Job 25-28
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 25
Bildad’s Third Speech. 1 [a]Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
2 Dominion and dread are his
who brings about harmony in his heavens.
3 Is there any numbering of his troops?[b]
Yet on which of them does his light not rise?
4 How can anyone be in the right against God,(A)
or how can any born of woman be innocent?
5 Even the moon is not bright
and the stars are not clean in his eyes.
6 How much less a human being, who is but a worm,
a mortal, who is only a maggot?(B)
Chapter 26
Job’s Reply. 1 Then Job answered and said:[c]
2 What help you give to the powerless,
what strength to the feeble arm!
3 How you give counsel to one without wisdom;
how profuse is the advice you offer!
4 With whose help have you uttered those words,
whose breath comes forth from you?(C)
5 The shades[d] beneath writhe in terror,(D)
the waters, and their inhabitants.
6 Naked before him is Sheol,[e]
and Abaddon has no covering.(E)
7 He stretches out Zaphon[f] over the void,
and suspends the earth over nothing at all;
8 He binds up the waters in his clouds,
yet the cloud is not split by their weight;
9 He holds back the appearance of the full moon
by spreading his clouds before it.
10 He has marked out a circle[g] on the surface of the deep(F)
as the boundary of light and darkness.
11 The pillars of the heavens tremble
and are stunned at his thunderous rebuke;(G)
12 By his power he stilled Sea,
by his skill he crushed Rahab;[h]
13 By his wind the heavens were made clear,
his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.[i](H)
14 Lo, these are but the outlines of his ways,
and what a whisper of a word we hear of him:
Who can comprehend the thunder of his power?
Chapter 27
Job’s Reply. 1 Job took up his theme again and said:
2 As God lives,[j] who takes away my right,(I)
the Almighty, who has made my life bitter,
3 So long as I still have life breath in me,
the breath of God in my nostrils,
4 My lips shall not speak falsehood,
nor my tongue utter deceit!
5 Far be it from me to account you right;
till I die I will not renounce my innocence.(J)
6 My justice I maintain and I will not relinquish it;
my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.
7 [k]Let my enemy be as the wicked
and my adversary as the unjust!
8 For what hope has the impious when he is cut off,
when God requires his life?
9 Will God then listen to his cry
when distress comes upon him,
10 If he delights in the Almighty
and calls upon God constantly?
11 I will teach you what is in God’s hand,
and the way of the Almighty I will not conceal.
12 Look, you yourselves have all seen it;
why do you spend yourselves in empty words!
13 This is the portion of the wicked with God,
the heritage oppressors receive from the Almighty:(K)
14 Though his children be many, the sword awaits them.
His descendants shall want for bread.
15 His survivors shall be buried in death;
their widows shall not weep.
16 Though he heap up silver like dust
and store away mounds of clothing,
17 What he has stored the righteous shall wear,
and the innocent shall divide the silver.
18 He builds his house as of cobwebs,
or like a booth put up by a watchman.
19 He lies down a rich man, one last time;
he opens his eyes—nothing is there.(L)
20 Terrors flood over him like water,
at night the tempest carries him off.
21 The east wind seizes him and he is gone;
it sweeps him from his place;
22 It hurls itself at him without pity,
as he tries to flee from its power.
23 It claps its hands at him,
and whistles at him from its place.
V. The Poem on Wisdom
Chapter 28
Where Is Wisdom to Be Found?
1 There is indeed a mine for silver,[l]
and a place for refining gold.
2 Iron is taken from the earth,
and copper smelted out of stone.
3 [m]He sets a boundary for the darkness;
the farthest confines he explores.
4 He breaks open a shaft far from habitation,
unknown to human feet;
suspended, far from people, they sway.
5 The earth, though out of it comes forth bread,
is in fiery upheaval underneath.
6 Its stones are the source of lapis lazuli,
and there is gold in its dust.
7 The path no bird of prey knows,
nor has the hawk’s eye seen it.
8 The proud beasts have not trodden it,
nor has the lion gone that way.
9 He sets his hand to the flinty rock,
and overturns the mountains at their root.
10 He splits channels in the rocks;
his eyes behold all that is precious.
11 He dams up the sources of the streams,
and brings hidden things to light.
12 As for wisdom—where can she be found?
Where is the place of understanding?(M)
13 Mortals do not know her path,
nor is she to be found in the land of the living.
14 The Deep says, “She is not in me”;
and the Sea says, “She is not with me.”
15 Solid gold cannot purchase her,
nor can her price be paid with silver.(N)
16 She cannot be bought with gold of Ophir,[n]
with precious onyx or lapis lazuli,
17 Gold or crystal cannot equal her,
nor can golden vessels be exchanged for her.
18 Neither coral nor crystal should be thought of;
the value of wisdom surpasses pearls.
19 Ethiopian topaz does not equal her,
nor can she be weighed out for pure gold.
20 As for wisdom, where does she come from?
Where is the place of understanding?
21 She is hidden from the eyes of every living thing;
even from the birds of the air she is concealed.
22 Abaddon[o] and Death say,
“Only by rumor have we heard of her.”
23 [p]But God understands the way to her;(O)
it is he who knows her place.(P)
24 For he beholds the ends of the earth
and sees all that is under the heavens.
25 When he weighed out the wind,
and measured out the waters;
26 When he made a rule for the rain
and a path for the thunderbolts,(Q)
27 Then he saw wisdom and appraised her,
established her, and searched her out.
28 [q]And to mortals he said:
See: the fear of the Lord is wisdom;
and avoiding evil is understanding.(R)
Notas al pie
- 25:1 At this point any structure in the dialogues disappears. Bildad’s speech is very short, and there follow two speeches attributed to Job, with significantly different introductions in 27:1 and 29:1, and with no intervening third speech of Zophar.
- 25:3 His troops: the heavenly host, or army, the stars (cf. Jgs 5:20), later understood as angels.
- 26:1–14 Perhaps to be read as Job’s reply to Bildad’s short speech.
- 26:5 Shades: the dead in Sheol, the nether world; cf. Ps 88:11; Is 26:14.
- 26:6 Sheol: cf. note on Ps 6:6. Abaddon: Hebrew for “(place of) destruction,” a synonym for nether world; cf. Jb 28:22; Rev 9:11.
- 26:7 Zaphon: lit., “the north,” used here as a synonym for the firmament, the heavens; cf. Is 14:13.
- 26:10 Circle: the horizon of the ocean which serves as the boundary for the activity of light and darkness; cf. Prv 8:27.
- 26:12 Rahab: another name for the primeval sea-monster; see notes on Jb 3:8 and Ps 89:11; cf. also Jb 7:12; 9:13.
- 26:13 The fleeing serpent: the same term occurs in Is 27:1 in apposition to Leviathan; see note on Jb 3:8.
- 27:2–6 As God lives…far be it: Job affirms two oaths about his innocence by the very God whom he has accused of violating his right. Such is the paradoxical situation of a tortured person who cannot give the lie to his personal justice, but also refuses to renounce God. He dares God to be “just” as he, Job, understands this.
- 27:7–23 These verses are inconsistent with Job’s views elsewhere, and may be part of a missing speech of Zophar; cf. notes on 24:18–24 and 25:1. Or possibly they are an ironic description of the fate of the three friends.
- 28:1–28 This chapter contains a beautifully vivid description of that Wisdom which is beyond the attainment of creatures and known only to God. The pronouns referring to Wisdom may be translated as either feminine or neuter; in view of Wisdom’s role as God’s companion and partner in creation (see Prv 8:22–30; Sir 24:1–21; Wis 9:9; Bar 3:9–4:4), the feminine is used here. There is no consensus about the authorship of this poem; it may originally have been an independent composition incorporated into the Book of Job.
- 28:3–4 The subject of the verbs in these verses has no clear antecedent; the context of vv. 2–6 suggests miners. The Hebrew of v. 4 is especially difficult. The general sense of vv. 1–11 is that one can find minerals in the earth; in contrast, where is Wisdom to be found (vv. 12, 20)?
- 28:16 Ophir: cf. note on Ps 45:10.
- 28:22 Abaddon: cf. note on Jb 26:6.
- 28:23–27 In reply to the question of vv. 12, 20, these verses indicate that the creator (vv. 24–26) knows the “place” of wisdom and even “established” her, but the specifics are not given. For further development of this theme, cf. Sir 1:1–10 and Bar 3:9–4:4.
- 28:28 This verse may be a later addition expressing a commonplace of the wisdom tradition; see cross-references. The addition seems to tie the poem in with the description of Job as fearing God and avoiding evil (1:1, 8; 2:3).
Wisdom 10:1-12
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 10[a]
Wisdom Preserves Her Followers
1 She preserved the first-formed father[b] of the world(A)
when he alone had been created;(B)
And she raised him up from his fall,
2 and gave him power to rule all things.(C)
3 But when an unrighteous man[c] withdrew from her in his anger,
he perished through his fratricidal wrath.(D)
4 When on his account the earth was flooded, Wisdom again saved it,
piloting the righteous man[d] on frailest wood.(E)
5 She, when the nations were sunk in universal wickedness,
knew the righteous man,[e] kept him blameless before God,
and preserved him resolute against pity for his child.(F)
6 She rescued a righteous man[f] from among the wicked who were being destroyed,(G)
when he fled as fire descended upon the Pentapolis—
7 Where as a testimony to its wickedness,
even yet there remain a smoking desert,
Plants bearing fruit that never ripens,
and the tomb of a disbelieving soul,[g] a standing pillar of salt.(H)
8 For those who forsook Wisdom
not only were deprived of knowledge of the good,
But also left the world a memorial of their folly,
so that they could not even be hidden in their fall.
9 But Wisdom rescued from tribulations those who served her.(I)
10 She, when a righteous man[h] fled from his brother’s anger,(J)
guided him in right ways,
Showed him the kingdom of God
and gave him knowledge of holy things;
She prospered him in his labors
and made abundant the fruit of his works,
11 Stood by him against the greed of his defrauders,
and enriched him;(K)
12 She preserved him from foes,
and secured him against ambush,
And she gave him the prize for his hard struggle
that he might know that devotion to God[i] is mightier than all else.(L)
Notas al pie
- 10:1–21 This chapter prepares for the following section (Wis 11:2–19:22) on the history of Israel in the exodus, by reviewing the dealings of Wisdom with the patriarchs. It has a parallel in Sir 44–50; cf. also Wis 18:9.
- 10:1–2 Adam.
- 10:3 Cain.
- 10:4 Noah.
- 10:5 Abraham.
- 10:6 Lot. Pentapolis: the five cities, including Sodom; cf. Gn 14:2.
- 10:7 Disbelieving soul: Lot’s wife; cf. Gn 19:26.
- 10:10–12 Jacob.
- 10:12 Devotion to God: in the Greek this signifies “piety” or “religion,” and is the equivalent of the Hebrew “fear of the Lord”; cf. Prv 1:7.
Luke 22:24-46
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
24 [a]Then an argument broke out among them(A) about which of them should be regarded as the greatest. 25 [b](B)He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them and those in authority over them are addressed as ‘Benefactors’; 26 but among you it shall not be so. Rather, let the greatest among you be as the youngest, and the leader as the servant.(C) 27 For who is greater: the one seated at table or the one who serves? Is it not the one seated at table? I am among you as the one who serves. 28 It is you who have stood by me in my trials; 29 and I confer a kingdom on you, just as my Father has conferred one on me,(D) 30 that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom; and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.(E)
Peter’s Denial Foretold.(F) 31 [c]“Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you[d] like wheat,(G) 32 but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers.” 33 He said to him, “Lord, I am prepared to go to prison and to die with you.”(H) 34 But he replied, “I tell you, Peter, before the cock crows this day, you will deny three times that you know me.”(I)
Instructions for the Time of Crisis. 35 (J)He said to them, “When I sent you forth without a money bag or a sack or sandals, were you in need of anything?” “No, nothing,” they replied. 36 (K)He said to them,[e] “But now one who has a money bag should take it, and likewise a sack, and one who does not have a sword should sell his cloak and buy one. 37 For I tell you that this scripture must be fulfilled in me, namely, ‘He was counted among the wicked’; and indeed what is written about me is coming to fulfillment.”(L) 38 Then they said, “Lord, look, there are two swords here.” But he replied, “It is enough!”[f]
The Agony in the Garden.(M) 39 Then going out he went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 When he arrived at the place he said to them, “Pray that you may not undergo the test.”(N) 41 After withdrawing about a stone’s throw from them and kneeling, he prayed,(O) 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done.”(P) [g] [43 And to strengthen him an angel from heaven appeared to him. 44 He was in such agony and he prayed so fervently that his sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground.] 45 When he rose from prayer and returned to his disciples, he found them sleeping from grief. 46 He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not undergo the test.”(Q)
The Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus.(R)
Read full chapterNotas al pie
- 22:24–38 The Gospel of Luke presents a brief farewell discourse of Jesus; compare the lengthy farewell discourses and prayer in Jn 13–17.
- 22:25 ‘Benefactors’: this word occurs as a title of rulers in the Hellenistic world.
- 22:31–32 Jesus’ prayer for Simon’s faith and the commission to strengthen his brothers anticipates the post-resurrectional prominence of Peter in the first half of Acts, where he appears as the spokesman for the Christian community and the one who begins the mission to the Gentiles (Acts 10–11).
- 22:31 All of you: literally, “you.” The translation reflects the meaning of the Greek text that uses a second person plural pronoun here.
- 22:36 In contrast to the ministry of the Twelve and of the seventy-two during the period of Jesus (Lk 9:3; 10:4), in the future period of the church the missionaries must be prepared for the opposition they will face in a world hostile to their preaching.
- 22:38 It is enough!: the farewell discourse ends abruptly with these words of Jesus spoken to the disciples when they take literally what was intended as figurative language about being prepared to face the world’s hostility.
- 22:43–44 These verses, though very ancient, were probably not part of the original text of Luke. They are absent from the oldest papyrus manuscripts of Luke and from manuscripts of wide geographical distribution.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.