Jun 4 - Job 26-28
Job
1Then Job answered and said:2"How you have helped him who has no power! How you have saved the arm that has no strength!3How you have counseled him who has no wisdom, and plentifully declared sound knowledge!4With whose help have you uttered words, and whose breath has come out from you?5The dead tremble under the waters and their inhabitants.6Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.7He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing.8He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not split open under them.9He covers the face of the full moon and spreads over it his cloud.10He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.11The pillars of heaven tremble and are astounded at his rebuke.12By his power he stilled the sea; by his understanding he shattered Rahab.13By his wind the heavens were made fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.14Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?"
1And Job again took up his discourse, and said:2"As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,3as long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,4my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit.5Far be it from me to say that you are right; till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.6I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.7"Let my enemy be as the wicked, and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.8For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off, when God takes away his life?9Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him?10Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?11I will teach you concerning the hand of God; what is with the Almighty I will not conceal.12Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain?13"This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:14If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword, and his descendants have not enough bread.15Those who survive him the pestilence buries, and his widows do not weep.16Though he heap up silver like dust, and pile up clothing like clay,17he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver.18He builds his house like a moth's, like a booth that a watchman makes.19He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more; he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone.20Terrors overtake him like a flood; in the night a whirlwind carries him off.21The east wind lifts him up and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place.22It hurls at him without pity; he flees from its power in headlong flight.23It claps its hands at him and hisses at him from its place.
1"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold that they refine.2Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted from the ore.3Man puts an end to darkness and searches out to the farthest limit the ore in gloom and deep darkness.4He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives; they are forgotten by travelers; they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro.5As for the earth, out of it comes bread, but underneath it is turned up as by fire.6Its stones are the place of sapphires, and it has dust of gold.7"That path no bird of prey knows, and the falcon's eye has not seen it.8The proud beasts have not trodden it; the lion has not passed over it.9"Man puts his hand to the flinty rock and overturns mountains by the roots.10He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing.11He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle, and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.12"But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?13Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living.14The deep says, 'It is not in me,' and the sea says, 'It is not with me.'15It cannot be bought for gold, and silver cannot be weighed as its price.16It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire.17Gold and glass cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.18No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal; the price of wisdom is above pearls.19The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, nor can it be valued in pure gold.20"From where, then, does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding?21It is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the air.22Abaddon and Death say, 'We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.'23"God understands the way to it, and he knows its place.24For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.25When he gave to the wind its weight and apportioned the waters by measure,26when he made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder,27then he saw it and declared it; he established it, and searched it out.28And he said to man, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.'"