Job 28-29

New American Standard Bible

Job Tells of Earth’s Treasures

28 “Certainly there is a ^[a]mine for silver
And a place ^[b]for refining gold.
²Iron is taken from the dust,
And copper is smelted from rock.
³Man puts an end to darkness,
And ^(A)to the farthest limit he searches out
The rock in gloom and deep shadow.
⁴He ^[c]sinks a shaft away from ^[d]inhabited areas,
Forgotten by the foot;
They hang and swing, away from people.
⁵^[e]From the earth comes food,
And underneath, it is turned over like fire.
⁶Its rocks are the ^[f]source of sapphires,
And its dust contains gold.
⁷No bird of prey knows the path,
Nor has the falcon’s eye caught sight of it.
⁸The ^[g]proud animals have not trodden it,
Nor has the lion passed over it.
⁹He puts his hand on the flint;
He overturns the mountains at the ^[h]base.
¹⁰He carves out channels through the rocks,
And his eye sees anything precious.
¹¹He dams up the streams from ^[i]flowing,
And brings to light what is hidden.

The Search for Wisdom Is Harder

¹²“But ^(B)where can wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
¹³^(C)Mankind does not know its value,
Nor is it found in the land of the living.
¹⁴The ocean depth says, ‘It is not in me’;
And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
¹⁵^(D)Pure gold cannot be given in exchange for it,
Nor can silver be weighed as its price.
¹⁶It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
In precious onyx, or sapphire.
¹⁷^(E)Gold or glass cannot equal it,
Nor can it be exchanged for articles of pure gold.
¹⁸Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned;
And the acquisition of ^(F)wisdom is more valuable than pearls.
¹⁹The topaz of ^[j]Cush cannot equal it,
Nor can it be valued in ^(G)pure gold.
²⁰^(H)Where then does wisdom come from?
And where is this place of understanding?
²¹It is hidden from the eyes of every living creature,
And concealed from the birds of the sky.
²²^[k]^(I)Abaddon and Death say,
‘With our ears we have heard a report of it.’

²³“^(J)God understands its way,
And He knows its place.
²⁴For He ^(K)looks to the ends of the earth;
He sees everything under the heavens.
²⁵When He imparted ^(L)weight to the wind,
And ^(M)assessed the waters by measure,
²⁶When He made a ^(N)limit for the rain,
And a course for the ^(O)thunderbolt,
²⁷Then He saw it and declared it;
He established it and also searched it out.
²⁸And to mankind He said, ‘Behold, the ^(P)fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
And to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

Job’s Past Was Glorious

29 Job again took up his ^(Q)discourse and said,

²“Oh that I were as in months gone by,
As in the days when God ^(R)watched over me;
³When ^(S)His lamp shone over my head,
And ^(T)by His light I walked through darkness;
⁴Just as I was in the days of my youth,
When the ^(U)protection of God was over my tent;
⁵When ^[l]the Almighty was still with me,
And my children were around me;
⁶When my steps were bathed in ^(V)cream,
And the ^(W)rock poured out streams of oil for me!
⁷When I went out to ^(X)the gate of the city,
When I ^[m]took my seat in the public square,
⁸The young men saw me and hid themselves,
And the old men arose and stood.
⁹The leaders ^(Y)stopped talking
And ^(Z)put their hands on their mouths;
¹⁰The voices of the prominent people were ^[n]^(AA)hushed,
And their ^(AB)tongues stuck to their palates.
¹¹For when ^(AC)an ear heard, it called me blessed,
And when an eye saw, it testified in support of me,
¹²Because I saved ^(AD)the poor who cried for help,
And the ^(AE)orphan who had no helper.
¹³The blessing of the one who ^(AF)was about to perish came upon me,
And I made the ^(AG)widow’s heart sing for joy.
¹⁴I ^(AH)put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
My justice was like a robe and a headband.
¹⁵I was ^(AI)eyes to those who were blind,
And feet to those who ^[o]could not walk.
¹⁶I was a father to ^(AJ)the poor,
And I investigated the case which I did not know.
¹⁷I ^(AK)broke the jaws of the wicked
And rescued the prey from his teeth.
¹⁸Then I ^[p]thought, ‘I will die with my ^[q]family,
And I will multiply my days as the sand.
¹⁹My ^(AL)root is spread out to the waters,
And ^(AM)dew lies on my branch all night.
²⁰My glory is ever new with me,
And my ^(AN)bow is renewed in my hand.’

²¹“To me ^(AO)they listened and waited,
And they kept silent for my advice.
²²After my words ^(AP)they did not speak again,
And ^(AQ)my speech dropped on them.
²³They waited for me as for the rain,
And opened their mouths as for the late rain.
²⁴I smiled at them when they did not believe,
And they did not look at ^[r]my kindness ungraciously.
²⁵I chose a way for them and sat as ^(AR)chief,
And lived as a king among the troops,
As one who ^(AS)comforted the mourners.

Footnotes

Job 28:1 Lit source
Job 28:1 Lit for gold they refine
Job 28:4 Lit breaks open
Job 28:4 Lit sojourning
Job 28:5 Lit Earth, from it
Job 28:6 Or place
Job 28:8 Lit sons of pride
Job 28:9 Lit root
Job 28:11 Lit weeping
Job 28:19 Or Ethiopia
Job 28:22 I.e., Destruction
Job 29:5 Heb Shaddai
Job 29:7 Lit set up
Job 29:10 Lit hidden
Job 29:15 Or limped
Job 29:18 Lit said
Job 29:18 Lit nest
Job 29:24 Lit the light of my face

Acts 13:1-25

New American Standard Bible

First Missionary Journey

13 Now there were ^(A)prophets and ^(B)teachers at ^(C)Antioch, in the ^(D)church that was there: ^(E)Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of ^(F)Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with ^(G)Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. ²While they were ^[a]serving the Lord and fasting, ^(H)the Holy Spirit said, “Set ^(I)Barnabas and Saul apart for Me for ^(J)the work to which I have called them.” ³Then, when they had fasted, ^(K)prayed, and ^(L)laid their hands on them, ^(M)they sent them away.

⁴So, being ^(N)sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to ^(O)Cyprus. ⁵When they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in ^(P)the synagogues of the Jews; and they also had ^(Q)John as their helper. ⁶When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a ^(R)magician, a Jewish ^(S)false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus, ⁷who was with the ^(T)proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. ⁸But Elymas the ^(U)magician (for so his name is translated) was opposing them, seeking to turn the ^(V)proconsul away from ^(W)the faith. ⁹But Saul, who was also known as Paul, ^[b]^(X)filled with the Holy Spirit, stared at him, ¹⁰and said, “^[c]You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you ^(Y)son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not stop making crooked ^(Z)the straight ways of the Lord? ¹¹Now, behold, ^(AA)the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.” And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand. ¹²Then the ^(AB)proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at ^(AC)the teaching of the Lord.

¹³Now Paul and his companions put out to sea from ^(AD)Paphos and came to ^(AE)Perga in ^(AF)Pamphylia; but ^(AG)John left them and returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁴But going on from Perga, they arrived at ^(AH)Pisidian ^(AI)Antioch, and on ^(AJ)the Sabbath day they went into ^(AK)the synagogue and sat down. ¹⁵After ^(AL)the reading of the Law and ^(AM)the Prophets, ^(AN)the synagogue officials sent word to them, saying, “^[d]Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.” ¹⁶Paul stood up, and ^(AO)motioning with his hand said,

“Men of Israel, and ^(AP)you who fear God, listen: ¹⁷The God of this people Israel ^(AQ)chose our fathers and ^[e]^(AR)made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm ^(AS)He led them out from it. ¹⁸For ^(AT)a period of about forty years ^(AU)He put up with them in the wilderness. ¹⁹^(AV)When He had destroyed ^(AW)seven nations in the land of Canaan, He ^(AX)distributed their land as an inheritance—all of which took ^(AY)about 450 years. ²⁰After these things He ^(AZ)gave them judges until ^(BA)Samuel the prophet. ²¹Then they ^(BB)asked for a king, and God gave them ^(BC)Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. ²²After He had ^(BD)removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘^(BE)I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My ^[f]will.’ ²³^(BF)From the descendants of this man, ^(BG)according to promise, God has brought to Israel ^(BH)a Savior, Jesus, ²⁴after ^(BI)John had proclaimed, before ^[g]His coming, a ^(BJ)baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. ²⁵And while John ^(BK)was completing his course, ^(BL)he kept saying, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’