Job 27-28

Job 27

¹And Job continued his parable and said,

²As God liveth, who hath taken away my right, and the Almighty, who hath embittered my soul,

³All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of +God is in my nostrils,

⁴My lips shall not speak unrighteousness, nor my tongue utter deceit!

⁵Be it far from me that I should justify you; till I die I will not remove my blamelessness from me.

⁶My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart reproacheth me not one of my days.

⁷Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.

⁸For what is the hope of the ungodly, when God cutteth him off, when +God taketh away his soul?

⁹Will God hear his cry when distress cometh upon him?

¹⁰Doth he delight himself in the Almighty? will he at all times call upon +God?

¹¹I will teach you concerning the hand of God; what is with the Almighty will I not conceal.

¹²Behold, ye yourselves have all seen it; and why are ye thus altogether vain?

¹³This is the portion of the wicked man with God, and the heritage of the violent, which they receive from the Almighty: --

¹⁴If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword, and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread;

¹⁵Those that remain of him shall be buried by death, and his widows shall not weep.

¹⁶Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare clothing as the clay;

¹⁷He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on; and the innocent shall divide the silver.

¹⁸He buildeth his house as the moth, and as a booth that a keeper maketh.

¹⁹He lieth down rich, but will do so no more; he openeth his eyes, and he is not.

²⁰Terrors overtake him like waters; a whirlwind stealeth him away in the night.

²¹The east wind carrieth him away and he is gone; and as a storm it hurleth him out of his place.

²²And God shall cast upon him and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand.

²³Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.

Job 28

¹Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold which they refine;

²Iron is taken out of the dust, and copper is molten out of the stone.

³Man putteth an end to the darkness, and exploreth to the utmost limit, the stones of darkness and of the shadow of death.

⁴He openeth a shaft far from the inhabitants of the earth: forgotten of the foot, they hang suspended; away below men they hover.

⁵As for the earth, out of it cometh bread, and underneath it is turned up as by fire;

⁶The stones of it are the place of sapphires, and it hath dust of gold.

⁷It is a path no bird of prey knoweth, and the vulture's eye hath not seen it;

⁸The proud beasts have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed over it.

⁹Man putteth forth his hand upon the flinty rock, he overturneth the mountains by the root.

¹⁰He cutteth out channels in the rocks, and his eye seeth every precious thing.

¹¹He bindeth the streams that they drip not, and what is hidden he bringeth forth to light.

¹²But wisdom, where shall it be found? and where is the place of understanding?

¹³Man knoweth not the value thereof; and it is not found in the land of the living.

¹⁴The deep saith, It is not in me; and the sea saith, It is not with me.

¹⁵Choice gold cannot be given for it, nor silver be weighed for its price.

¹⁶It is not set in the balance with gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, and the sapphire.

¹⁷Gold and glass cannot be compared to it, nor vessels of fine gold be its exchange.

¹⁸Corals and crystal are no more remembered; yea, the acquisition of wisdom is above rubies.

¹⁹The topaz of Ethiopia shall not be compared to it, neither shall it be set in the balance with pure gold.

²⁰Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?

²¹For it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the fowl of the heavens.

²²Destruction and death say, We have heard its report with our ears.

²³God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth its place:

²⁴For he looketh to the ends of the earth, he seeth under the whole heaven.

²⁵In making a weight for the wind, and meting out the waters by measure,

²⁶In appointing a statute for the rain, and a way for the thunder's flash:

²⁷Then did he see it, and declare it; he established it, yea, and searched it out;

²⁸And unto man he said, Lo, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.