Job 26

Job Replies: God’s Majesty Is Unsearchable

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.
¹¹ The 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?"

Job 27

Job Continues: I Will Maintain My Integrity

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.
⁸ For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off,
when God takes away his life?
⁹ Will 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.
²⁰ Terrors overtake him like a flood;
in the night a whirlwind carries him off.
²¹ The 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.

Job 28

Job Continues: Where Is Wisdom?

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.
⁸ The 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.
¹⁴ The 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.
²² Abaddon 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.'"

Job 29

Job’s Summary Defense

¹And Job again took up his discourse, and said:
²"Oh, that I were as in the months of old,
as in the days when God watched over me,
³when his lamp shone upon my head,
and by his light I walked through darkness,
⁴as I was in my prime,
when the friendship of God was upon my tent,
⁵when the Almighty was yet with me,
when my children were all around me,
⁶when my steps were washed with butter,
and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
⁷When I went out to the gate of the city,
when I prepared my seat in the square,
⁸the young men saw me and withdrew,
and the aged rose and stood;
⁹the princes refrained from talking
and laid their hand on their mouth;
¹⁰the voice of the nobles was hushed,
and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
¹¹When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
and when the eye saw, it approved,
¹²because I delivered the poor who cried for help,
and the fatherless who had none to help him.
¹³The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me,
and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and a turban.
¹⁵I was eyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.
¹⁶I was a father to the needy,
and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.
¹⁷I broke the fangs of the unrighteous
and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
¹⁸ Then I thought, 'I shall die in my nest,
and I shall multiply my days as the sand,
¹⁹my roots spread out to the waters,
with the dew all night on my branches,
²⁰my glory fresh with me,
and my bow ever new in my hand.'

²¹"Men listened to me and waited
and kept silence for my counsel.
²²After I spoke they did not speak again,
and my word dropped upon them.
²³They waited for me as for the rain,
and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
²⁴I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
and the light of my face they did not cast down.
²⁵I chose their way and sat as chief,
and I lived like a king among his troops,
like one who comforts mourners.