Job 28-30
Christian Standard Bible
A Hymn to Wisdom
28 Surely there is a mine for silver
and a place where gold is refined.
2 Iron is taken from the ground,
and copper is smelted from ore.
3 A miner puts an end to the darkness;
he probes[a] the deepest recesses
for ore in the gloomy darkness.
4 He cuts a shaft far from human habitation,
in places unknown to those who walk above ground.
Suspended far away from people,
the miners swing back and forth.
5 Food may come from the earth,
but below the surface the earth is transformed as by fire.
6 Its rocks are a source of lapis lazuli,(A)
containing flecks of gold.
7 No bird of prey knows that path;
no falcon’s eye has seen it.
8 Proud beasts have never walked on it;
no lion has ever prowled over it.
9 The miner uses a flint tool
and turns up ore from the root of the mountains.
10 He cuts out channels in the rocks,
and his eyes spot every treasure.
11 He dams up the streams from flowing[b]
so that he may bring to light what is hidden.
12 But where can wisdom(B) be found,
and where is understanding located?
13 No one can know its value,[c]
since it cannot be found in the land of the living.
14 The ocean depths say, “It’s not in me,”
while the sea declares, “I don’t have it.”(C)
15 Gold cannot be exchanged for it,
and silver cannot be weighed out for its price.
16 Wisdom cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,(D)
in precious onyx or lapis lazuli.(E)
17 Gold and glass do not compare with it,
and articles of fine gold cannot be exchanged for it.(F)
18 Coral and quartz are not worth mentioning.
The price of wisdom is beyond pearls.
19 Topaz from Cush cannot compare with it,
and it cannot be valued in pure gold.
20 Where then does wisdom come from,
and where is understanding located?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing
and concealed from the birds of the sky.
22 Abaddon and Death(G) say,
“We have heard news of it with our ears.”
23 But God understands the way to wisdom,
and he knows its location.
24 For he looks to the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
25 When God fixed the weight of the wind
and distributed the water by measure,(H)
26 when he established a limit[d] for the rain(I)
and a path for the lightning,
27 he considered wisdom and evaluated it;
he established it and examined it.
28 He said to mankind,
“The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom.
And to turn from evil is understanding.”(J)
Job’s Final Claim of Innocence
29 Job continued his discourse, saying:
2 If only I could be as in months gone by,
in the days when God watched over me,
3 when his lamp shone above my head,
and I walked through darkness by his light!(K)
4 I would be as I was in the days of my youth
when God’s friendship(L) rested on my tent,
5 when the Almighty was still with me
and my children were around me,
6 when my feet were bathed in curds
and the rock(M) poured out streams of oil for me!
7 When I went out to the city gate(N)
and took my seat in the town square,
8 the young men saw me and withdrew,
while older men stood to their feet.
9 City officials stopped talking
and covered their mouths with their hands.(O)
10 The noblemen’s voices were hushed,
and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.(P)
11 When they heard me, they blessed me,
and when they saw me, they spoke well of me.[e]
12 For I rescued the poor who cried out for help,
and the fatherless child who had no one to support him.(Q)
13 The dying blessed me,
and I made the widow’s heart rejoice.
14 I clothed myself in righteousness,(R)
and it enveloped me;
my just decisions were like a robe and a turban.
15 I was eyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.(S)
16 I was a father to the needy,
and I examined the case of the stranger.
17 I shattered the fangs of the unjust(T)
and snatched the prey from his teeth.
18 So I thought, “I will die in my own nest
and multiply my days as the sand.[f]
19 My roots will have access to water,(U)
and the dew will rest on my branches all night.
20 My whole being will be refreshed within me,
and my bow will be renewed in my hand.”(V)
21 Men listened to me with expectation,
waiting silently for my advice.
22 After a word from me they did not speak again;
my speech settled on them like dew.(W)
23 They waited for me as for the rain
and opened their mouths as for spring showers.
24 If I smiled at them, they couldn’t believe it;
they were thrilled at[g] the light of my countenance.
25 I directed their course and presided as chief.
I lived as a king among his troops,
like one who comforts those who mourn.
30 But now they mock(X) me,
men younger than I am,
whose fathers I would have refused to put
with my sheep dogs.
2 What use to me was the strength of their hands?
Their vigor had left them.
3 Emaciated from poverty and hunger,
they gnawed the dry land,
the desolate wasteland by night.
4 They plucked mallow[h](Y) among the shrubs,
and the roots of the broom tree were their food.
5 They were banished from human society;
people shouted at them as if they were thieves.
6 They are living on the slopes of the wadis,
among the rocks and in holes in the ground.
7 They bray among the shrubs;
they huddle beneath the thistles.
8 Foolish(Z) men, without even a name.
They were forced to leave the land.
9 Now I am mocked by their songs;(AA)
I have become an object of scorn to them.
10 They despise me and keep their distance from me;(AB)
they do not hesitate to spit(AC) in my face.
11 Because God has loosened my[i] bowstring and oppressed me,
they have cast off restraint in my presence.(AD)
12 The rabble[j] rise up at my right;
they trap[k] my feet
and construct their siege ramp[l] against me.(AE)
13 They tear up my path;
they contribute to my destruction,(AF)
without anyone to help them.
14 They advance as through a gaping breach;
they keep rolling in through the ruins.(AG)
15 Terrors(AH) are turned loose against me;
they chase my dignity away like the wind,
and my prosperity has passed by like a cloud.
16 Now my life is poured out before me,
and days of suffering(AI) have seized me.
17 Night pierces my bones,
but my gnawing pains never rest.(AJ)
18 My clothing is distorted with great force;
he chokes me by the neck of my garment.[m]
19 He throws me into the mud,
and I have become like dust and ashes.(AK)
20 I cry out to you for help, but you do not answer me;(AL)
when I stand up, you merely look at me.
21 You have turned against me with cruelty;
you harass(AM) me with your strong hand.
22 You lift me up on the wind and make me ride it;
you scatter me in the storm.(AN)
23 Yes, I know that you will lead me to death—
the place(AO) appointed for all who live.
24 Yet no one would stretch out his hand
against a ruined person[n]
when he cries out to him for help
because of his distress.(AP)
25 Have I not wept for those who have fallen on hard times?
Has my soul not grieved for the needy?(AQ)
26 But when I hoped for good, evil came;
when I looked for light, darkness(AR) came.
27 I am churning within[o] and cannot rest;
days of suffering confront me.
28 I walk about blackened, but not by the sun.[p]
I stood in the assembly and cried out for help.
29 I have become a brother to jackals
and a companion of ostriches.
30 My skin blackens and flakes off,[q]
and my bones burn with fever.(AS)
31 My lyre is used for mourning
and my flute for the sound of weeping.(AT)
Footnotes
- 28:3 Lit probes all
- 28:11 LXX, Vg read He explores the sources of the streams
- 28:13 LXX reads way
- 28:26 Or decree
- 29:11 Lit When an ear heard, it called me blessed, and when an eye saw, it testified for me
- 29:18 Or as the phoenix
- 29:24 Lit they did not cast down
- 30:4 Or saltwort
- 30:11 Alt Hb tradition, LXX, Vg read his
- 30:12 Hb obscure
- 30:12 Lit stretch out
- 30:12 Lit and raise up their destructive paths
- 30:18 Hb obscure
- 30:24 Lit a heap of ruins
- 30:27 Lit My bowels boil
- 30:28 Or walk in sunless gloom
- 30:30 Lit blackens away from me
Revelation 18
Christian Standard Bible
The Fall of Babylon the Great
18 After this I saw another angel with great authority coming down from heaven,(A) and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. 2 He called out in a mighty voice:
It has fallen,[a]
Babylon the Great has fallen!(B)
She has become a home for demons,
a haunt for every unclean spirit,
a haunt for every unclean bird,
and a haunt[b] for every unclean and despicable beast.[c](C)
3 For all the nations have drunk[d]
the wine of her sexual immorality,
which brings wrath.(D)
The kings of the earth
have committed sexual immorality with her,
and the merchants of the earth
have grown wealthy from her sensuality and excess.(E)
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven:
Come out of her, my people,
so that you will not share in her sins(F)
or receive any of her plagues.
5 For her sins are piled up[e] to heaven,(G)
and God has remembered her crimes.(H)
6 Pay her back the way she also paid,(I)
and double it according to her works.(J)
In the cup in which she mixed,(K)
mix a double portion for her.
7 As much as she glorified herself and indulged her sensual and excessive ways,
give her that much torment and grief.
For she says in her heart,
“I sit as a queen;
I am not a widow,
and I will never see grief.”(L)
8 For this reason her plagues will come in just one day—
death and grief and famine.(M)
She will be burned up with fire,(N)
because the Lord God who judges(O) her is mighty.(P)
The World Mourns Babylon’s Fall
9 The kings of the earth who have committed sexual immorality and shared her sensual and excessive ways will weep and mourn over her when they see the smoke from her burning. 10 They will stand far off in fear of her torment,(Q) saying,
Woe, woe, the great city,(R)
Babylon, the mighty city!
For in a single hour
your judgment has come.
11 The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargo any longer— 12 cargo of gold, silver, jewels, and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; all kinds of fragrant wood products; objects of ivory; objects of expensive wood, brass,[f] iron, and marble; 13 cinnamon, spice,[g] incense, myrrh,[h] and frankincense; wine, olive oil, fine flour, and grain; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and slaves—human lives.(S)
14 The fruit you craved has left you.
All your splendid and glamorous things are gone;
they will never find them again.
15 The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand far off in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, 16 saying,
Woe, woe, the great city,
dressed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet,
adorned with gold, jewels, and pearls;(T)
17 for in a single hour
such fabulous wealth was destroyed!
And every shipmaster, seafarer, the sailors, and all who do business by sea, stood far off 18 as they watched the smoke from her burning and kept crying out, “Who was like the great city?” (U) 19 They threw dust on their heads and kept crying out, weeping, and mourning,(V)
Woe, woe, the great city,(W)
where all those who have ships on the sea
became rich from her wealth;
for in a single hour she was destroyed.
20 Rejoice over her, heaven,
and you saints, apostles, and prophets,(X)
because God has pronounced on her the judgment(Y) she passed on you!
The Finality of Babylon’s Fall
21 Then a mighty angel(Z) picked up a stone like a large millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,
In this way, Babylon the great city
will be thrown down violently(AA)
and never be found again.(AB)
22 The sound of harpists, musicians,
flutists, and trumpeters
will never be heard in you again;(AC)
no craftsman of any trade
will ever be found in you again;
the sound of a mill
will never be heard in you again;
23 the light of a lamp
will never shine in you again;
and the voice of a groom and bride
will never be heard in you again.(AD)
All this will happen
because your merchants
were the nobility of the earth,
because all the nations were deceived
by your sorcery.
24 In her was found the blood of prophets and saints,(AE)
and of all those slaughtered on the earth.(AF)
Footnotes
- 18:2 Other mss omit It has fallen
- 18:2 Or prison
- 18:2 Other mss omit the words and a haunt for every unclean beast. The words and despicable then refer to the bird of the previous line.
- 18:3 Some mss read collapsed; other mss read fallen
- 18:5 Or sins have reached up
- 18:12 Or bronze, or copper
- 18:13 Other mss omit spice
- 18:13 Or perfume
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
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