Job 27-28

Job 27

¹And Job again took up the word and said,

²By the life of God, who has taken away my right; and of the Ruler of all, who has made my soul bitter;

³(For all my breath is still in me, and the spirit of God is my life;)

⁴Truly, there is no deceit in my lips, and my tongue does not say what is false.

⁵Let it be far from me! I will certainly not say that you are right! I will come to death before I give up my righteousness.

⁶I will keep it safe, and will not let it go: my heart has nothing to say against any part of my life.

⁷Let my hater be like the evil man, and let him who comes against me be as the sinner.

⁸For what is the hope of the sinner when he is cut off, when God takes back his soul?

⁹Will his cry come to the ears of God when he is in trouble?

¹⁰Will he take delight in the Ruler of all, and make his prayer to God at all times?

¹¹I will give you teaching about the hand of God; I will not keep secret from you what is in the mind of the Ruler of all.

¹²Truly, you have all seen it yourselves; why then have you become completely foolish?

¹³This is the punishment of the evil-doer from God, and the heritage given to the cruel by the Ruler of all.

¹⁴If his children are increased, it is for the sword; and his offspring have not enough bread.

¹⁵When those of his house who are still living come to their end by disease, they are not put into the earth, and their widows are not weeping for them.

¹⁶Though he may get silver together like dust, and make ready great stores of clothing;

¹⁷He may get them ready, but the upright will put them on, and he who is free from sin will take the silver for a heritage.

¹⁸His house has no more strength than a spider's thread, or a watchman's tent.

¹⁹He goes to rest full of wealth, but does so for the last time: on opening his eyes, he sees it there no longer.

²⁰Fears overtake him like rushing waters; in the night the storm-wind takes him away.

²¹The east wind takes him up and he is gone; he is forced violently out of his place.

²²God sends his arrows against him without mercy; he goes in flight before his hand.

²³Men make signs of joy because of him, driving him from his place with sounds of hissing.

Job 28

¹Truly there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is washed out.

²Iron is taken out of the earth, and stone is changed into brass by the fire.

³Man puts an end to the dark, searching out to the farthest limit the stones of the deep places of the dark.

⁴He makes a deep mine far away from those living in the light of day; when they go about on the earth, they have no knowledge of those who are under them, who are hanging far from men, twisting from side to side on a cord.

⁵As for the earth, bread comes out of it; but under its face it is turned up as if by fire.

⁶Its stones are the place of sapphires, and it has dust of gold.

⁷No bird has knowledge of it, and the hawk's eye has never seen it.

⁸The great beasts have not gone over it, and the cruel lion has not taken that way.

⁹Man puts out his hand on the hard rock, overturning mountains by the roots.

¹⁰He makes deep ways, cut through the rock, and his eye sees everything of value.

¹¹He keeps back the streams from flowing, and makes the secret things come out into the light.

¹²But where may wisdom be seen? and where is the resting-place of knowledge?

¹³Man has not seen the way to it, and it is not in the land of the living.

¹⁴The deep waters say, It is not in me: and the sea says, It is not with me.

¹⁵Gold may not be given for it, or a weight of silver in payment for it.

¹⁶It may not be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the onyx of great price, or the sapphire.

¹⁷Gold and glass are not equal to it in price, and it may not be exchanged for jewels of the best gold.

¹⁸There is no need to say anything about coral or crystal; and the value of wisdom is greater than that of pearls.

¹⁹The topaz of Ethiopia is not equal to it, and it may not be valued with the best gold.

²⁰From where then does wisdom come, and where is the resting-place of knowledge?

²¹For it is kept secret from the eyes of all living, unseen by the birds of the air.

²²Destruction and Death say, We have only had word of it with our ears.

²³God has knowledge of the way to it, and of its resting-place;

²⁴For his eyes go to the ends of the earth, and he sees everything under heaven.

²⁵When he made a weight for the wind, measuring out the waters;

²⁶When he made a law for the rain, and a way for the thunder-flames;

²⁷Then he saw it, and put it on record; he gave it its fixed form, searching it out completely.

²⁸And he said to man, Truly the fear of the Lord is wisdom, and to keep from evil is the way to knowledge.