21 And when we had torn ourselves away from them and withdrawn, we set sail and made a straight run to Cos, and on the following [day came] to Rhodes and from there to Patara.

² There we found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia; so we went aboard and sailed away.

³ After we had sighted Cyprus, leaving it on our left we sailed on to Syria and put in at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload her cargo.

⁴ And having looked up the disciples there, we remained with them for seven days. Prompted by the [Holy] Spirit, they kept telling Paul not to set foot in Jerusalem.

⁵ But when our time there was ended, we left and proceeded on our journey; and all of them with their wives and children accompanied us on our way till we were outside the city. There we knelt down on the beach and prayed.

⁶ Then when we had told one another farewell, we went on board the ship, and they returned to their own homes.

⁷ When we had completed the voyage from Tyre, we landed at Ptolemais, where we paid our respects to the brethren and remained with them for one day.

⁸ On the morrow we left there and came to Caesarea; and we went into the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven [first deacons], and stayed with him.^(A)

⁹ And he had four maiden daughters who had the gift of prophecy.

¹⁰ While we were remaining there for some time, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

¹¹ And coming to [see] us, he took Paul’s belt and with it bound his own feet and hands and said, Thus says the Holy Spirit: The Jews at Jerusalem shall bind like this the man who owns this belt, and they shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles (heathen).

¹² When we heard this, both we and the residents of that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem.

¹³ Then Paul replied, What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart like this? For I hold myself in readiness not only to be arrested and bound and imprisoned at Jerusalem, but also [even] to die for the name of the Lord Jesus.

¹⁴ And when he would not yield to [our] persuading, we stopped [urging and imploring him], saying, The Lord’s will be done!

¹⁵ After these days we packed our baggage and went up to Jerusalem.

¹⁶ And some of the disciples from Caesarea came with us, conducting us to the house of Mnason, a man from Cyprus, one of the disciples of long standing, with whom we were to lodge.

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25 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,

² Dominion and fear are with [God]; He makes peace in His high places.

³ Is there any number to His armies? And upon whom does not His light arise?

⁴ How then can man be justified and righteous before God? Or how can he who is born of a woman be pure and clean?^(A)

⁵ Behold, even the moon has no brightness [compared to God’s glory] and the stars are not pure in His sight—

⁶ How much less man, who is a maggot! And a son of man, who is a worm!

26 But Job answered,

² How you have helped him who is without power! How you have sustained the arm that is without strength!

³ How you have counseled him who has no wisdom! And how plentifully you have declared to him sound knowledge!

⁴ With whose assistance have you uttered these words? And whose spirit [inspired what] came forth from you?

⁵ The shades of the dead tremble underneath the waters and their inhabitants.

⁶ Sheol (the place of the dead) is naked before God, and Abaddon (the place of destruction) has no covering [from His eyes].

⁷ He it is Who spreads out the northern skies over emptiness and ^[a]hangs the earth upon or over nothing.

⁸ He holds the waters bound in His clouds [which otherwise would spill on earth all at once], and the cloud is not rent under them.

⁹ He covers the face of His throne and spreads over it His cloud.

¹⁰ He has placed an enclosing limit [the horizon] upon the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.

¹¹ The pillars of the heavens tremble and are astonished at His rebuke.

¹² He stills or stirs up the sea by His power, and by His understanding He smites proud Rahab.

¹³ By His breath the heavens are garnished; His hand pierced the [swiftly] fleeing serpent.^(B)

¹⁴ Yet these are but [a small part of His doings] the outskirts of His ways or the mere fringes of His force, the faintest whisper of His voice! Who dares contemplate or who can understand the thunders of His full, magnificent power?

27 Job again took up his discourse and said,

² As God lives, Who has taken away my right and denied me justice, and the Almighty, Who has vexed and embittered my life,

³ As long as my life is still whole within me, and the breath of God is [yet] in my nostrils,

⁴ My lips shall not speak untruth, nor shall my tongue utter deceit.

⁵ God forbid that I should justify you—saying you are right [in your accusations against me]; till I die, I will not put away my integrity from me.

⁶ My uprightness and my right standing with God I hold fast and will not let them go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days and it shall not reproach me as long as I live.

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 and polluted, even though he has gained [in this world], when God cuts him off and takes away his life?

⁹ Will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him?

¹⁰ Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?

¹¹ I will teach you regarding the hand and handiwork of God; that which is with the Almighty [God’s actual treatment of the wicked man] will I not conceal.

¹² Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain [cherishing foolish notions]?

¹³ This [which I am about to tell] is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage which oppressors shall receive from the Almighty:

¹⁴ If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword; and his offspring will not have sufficient bread.

¹⁵ Those who survive him, [the pestilence] will bury, and [their] widows will make no lamentation.

¹⁶ Though he heaps up silver like dust and piles up clothing like clay,

¹⁷ He may prepare it, but the just will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver.

¹⁸ He builds his house like a moth or a spider, like a booth which a watchman makes [to last for a season].

¹⁹ [The wicked] will lie down rich, but does it not again; he opens his eyes, and [his wealth] is gone.

²⁰ Terrors overtake him like a [suddenly loosened] flood; a windstorm steals him away in the night.

²¹ The east wind lifts him up, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place.

²² For [God and the storm] hurl at him without pity and unsparingly [their thunderbolts of wrath]; he flees in haste before His power.

²³ [God causes] men to clap their hands at him [in malignant joy] and hiss him out of his place.

28 Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold where they refine it.

² Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted from the stone ore.

³ Man sets an end to darkness, and he searches out the farthest bounds for the ore buried in gloom and deep darkness.

⁴ Men break open shafts away from where people sojourn, in places forgotten by [human] foot; and [descend into them], hanging afar from men, they swing or flit to and fro.

⁵ As for the earth, out of it comes bread, but underneath [its surface, down deep in the mine] there is ^[b]blasting, turning it up as by fire.

⁶ Its stones are the bed of sapphires; it holds dust of gold [which he wins].

⁷ That path no bird of prey knows, and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.

⁸ The proud beasts [and their young] have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lion passed over it.

⁹ Man puts forth his hand upon the flinty rock; he overturns the mountains by the roots.

¹⁰ He cuts out channels and passages among the rocks; and his eye sees every precious thing.

¹¹ [Man] binds the streams so that they do not trickle [into the mine], and the thing that is hidden he brings forth to light.

¹² But where shall ^[c]Wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?

¹³ Man knows not the price of it; neither is it found in the land of the living.

¹⁴ The deep says, [Wisdom] is not in me; and the sea says, It is not with me.

¹⁵ It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price of it.

¹⁶ It cannot be valued in [terms of] the gold of Ophir, in the precious onyx or beryl, or the sapphire.

¹⁷ Gold and glass cannot equal [Wisdom], nor can it be exchanged for jewels or vessels of fine gold.

¹⁸ No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal; for the possession of Wisdom is even above rubies or pearls.

¹⁹ The topaz of Ethiopia cannot compare with it, nor can it be valued in pure gold.

²⁰ From where then does Wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding?

²¹ It is hidden from the eyes of all living, and knowledge of it is withheld from the birds of the heavens.

²² Abaddon (the place of destruction) and Death say, We have [only] heard the report of it with our ears.

²³ God understands the way [to Wisdom] and He knows the place of it [Wisdom is with God alone].

²⁴ For He looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.

²⁵ When He gave to the wind weight or pressure and allotted the waters by measure,

²⁶ When He made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder,

²⁷ Then He saw [Wisdom] and declared it; He established it, yes, and searched it out [for His own use, and He alone possesses it].

²⁸ But to man He said, Behold, the reverential and worshipful fear of the Lord—that is Wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.