Job 28-31

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

⁷ “That path no bird of prey knows,
    and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.
⁸ The proud wild animals have not trodden it;
    the lion has not passed over it.

⁹ “They put their hand to the flinty rock
    and overturn mountains by the roots.^(C)
10 They cut out channels in the rocks,
    and their eyes see every precious thing.
¹¹ The sources of the rivers they probe;^[c]
    hidden things they bring to light.

¹² “But where shall wisdom be found?
    And where is the place of understanding?^(D)
13 Mortals do not know the way to it,^[d]
    and it is not found in the land of the living.^(E)
14 The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
    and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
¹⁵ It cannot be gotten for gold,
    and silver cannot be weighed out as its price.
¹⁶ It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
    in precious onyx or sapphire.^[e]
17 Gold and glass cannot equal it,
    nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.^(F)
18 No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
    the price of wisdom is above pearls.^(G)
19 The chrysolite of Cush cannot compare with it,
    nor can it be valued in pure gold.^(H)

²⁰ “Where then does wisdom come from?
    And where is the place of understanding?^(I)
21 It 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.’^(J)

²³ “God understands the way to it,
    and he knows its place.^(K)
24 For he looks to the ends of the earth
    and sees everything under the heavens.^(L)
25 When he gave to the wind its weight
    and apportioned out the waters by measure,^(M)
26 when he made a decree for the rain,
    and a way for the thunderbolt,^(N)
27 then he saw it and declared it;
    he established it and searched it out.
²⁸ And he said to humankind,
‘Truly, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
    and to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”^(O)

² “O that I were as in the months of old,
    as in the days when God watched over me,^(Q)
3 when his lamp shone over my head,
    and by his light I walked through darkness,^(R)
4 when I was in my prime,
    when the friendship of God was upon my tent,^(S)
5 when the Almighty^[f] was still with me,
    when my children were around me,
⁶ when my steps were washed with milk
    and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!^(T)
7 When I went out to the gate of the city,
    when I took my seat in the square,
⁸ the young men saw me and withdrew,
    and the aged rose up and stood;
⁹ the nobles refrained from talking
    and laid their hands on their mouths;^(U)
10 the voices of princes were hushed,
    and their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths.^(V)
11 When the ear heard, it commended me,
    and when the eye saw, it approved,
¹² because I delivered the poor who cried
    and the orphan who had no helper.^(W)
13 The blessing of the wretched came upon me,
    and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.^(X)
14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
    my justice was like a robe and a turban.^(Y)
15 I was eyes to the blind
    and feet to the lame.
¹⁶ I was a father to the needy,
    and I championed the cause of the stranger.^(Z)
17 I broke the fangs of the unrighteous
    and made them drop their prey from their teeth.^(AA)
18 Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest,
    and I shall multiply my days like the phoenix;^[g](AB)
19 my roots spread out to the waters,
    with the dew all night on my branches;^(AC)
20 my glory was fresh with me
    and my bow ever new in my hand.’^(AD)

²¹ “They listened to me and waited
    and kept silence for my counsel.^(AE)
22 After I spoke they did not speak again,
    and my word dropped upon them like dew.^[h](AF)
23 They waited for me as for the rain;
    they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
²⁴ I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
    and the light of my countenance they did not extinguish.^[i]
25 I chose what they should do and sat as chief,
    and I lived like a king among his troops,
    like one who comforts mourners.^(AG)

30 “But now they make sport of me,
    those who are younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
    to set with the dogs of my flock.^(AH)
2 What could I gain from the strength of their hands?
    All their vigor is gone.
³ Through want and hard hunger
    they gnaw the dry and desolate ground;
⁴ they pick mallow and the leaves of bushes
    and to warm themselves the roots of broom.
⁵ They are driven out from society;
    people shout after them as after a thief.
⁶ In the gullies of wadis they must live,
    in holes in the ground and in the rocks.
⁷ Among the bushes they bray;
    under the nettles they huddle together.
⁸ A senseless, disreputable brood,
    they have been whipped out of the land.

⁹ “And now they mock me in song;
    I am a byword to them.^(AI)
10 They abhor me; they keep aloof from me;
    they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.^(AJ)
11 Because God has loosed my bowstring and humbled me,
    they have cast off restraint in my presence.^(AK)
12 On my right hand the rabble rise up;
    they send me sprawling
    and build roads for my ruin.^(AL)
13 They break up my path;
    they promote my calamity;
    no one restrains^[j] them.
¹⁴ As through a wide breach they come;
    amid the crash they roll on.
¹⁵ Terrors are turned upon me;
    my honor is pursued as by the wind,
    and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.^(AM)

¹⁶ “And now my soul is poured out within me;
    days of affliction have taken hold of me.^(AN)
17 The night racks my bones,
    and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
¹⁸ With violence he seizes my garment;^[k]
    he grasps me by^[l] the collar of my tunic.
¹⁹ He has cast me into the mire,
    and I have become like dust and ashes.^(AO)
20 I cry to you, and you do not answer me;
    I stand, and you merely look at me.^(AP)
21 You have turned cruel to me;
    with the might of your hand you persecute me.^(AQ)
22 You lift me up on the wind, you make me ride on it,
    and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.^(AR)
23 I know that you will bring me to death,
    to the house appointed for all living.^(AS)

²⁴ “Surely one does not turn against the needy,^[m]
    when in disaster they cry for help.^[n](AT)
25 Did I not weep for those whose day was hard?
    Was not my soul grieved for the poor?^(AU)
26 But when I looked for good, evil came,
    and when I waited for light, darkness came.^(AV)
27 My inward parts are in turmoil and are never still;
    days of affliction come to meet me.
²⁸ I go about in sunless gloom;
    I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.^(AW)
29 I am a brother of jackals
    and a companion of ostriches.^(AX)
30 My skin turns black and falls from me,
    and my bones burn with heat.^(AY)
31 My lyre is turned to mourning
    and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.^(AZ)

31 “I have made a covenant with my eyes;
    how, then, could I look upon a virgin?^(BA)
2 What would be my portion from God above
    and my heritage from the Almighty^[o] on high?
³ Does not calamity befall the unrighteous
    and disaster the workers of iniquity?
⁴ Does he not see my ways
    and number all my steps?^(BB)

⁵ “If I have walked with falsehood,
    and my foot has hurried to deceit—^(BC)
6 let me be weighed in a just balance,
    and let God know my integrity!—^(BD)
7 if my step has turned aside from the way,
    and my heart has followed my eyes,
    and if any spot has clung to my hands,^(BE)
8 then let me sow and another eat,
    and let what grows for me be rooted out.^(BF)

⁹ “If my heart has been enticed by a woman
    and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door,^(BG)
10 then let my wife grind for another,
    and let other men kneel over her.^(BH)
11 For that would be a heinous crime;
    that would be a criminal offense;^(BI)
12 for that would be a fire consuming down to Abaddon,
    and it would burn to the root all my harvest.^(BJ)

¹³ “If I have rejected the cause of my male or female slaves,
    when they brought a complaint against me,^(BK)
14 what then shall I do when God rises up?
    When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
¹⁵ Did not he who made me in the womb make them?
    And did not one fashion us in the womb?^(BL)

¹⁶ “If I have withheld anything that the poor desired
    or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail^(BM)
17 or have eaten my morsel alone
    and the orphan has not eaten from it—^(BN)
18 for from my youth I reared the orphan^[p] like a father,
    and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow^[q]—
¹⁹ if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing
    or a poor person without covering,
²⁰ whose loins have not blessed me,
    and who was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;^(BO)
21 if I have raised my hand against the orphan
    because I saw I had supporters at the gate;^(BP)
22 then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,
    and let my arm be broken from its socket.^(BQ)
23 For I was in terror of calamity from God,
    and I could not have faced his majesty.^(BR)

²⁴ “If I have made gold my trust
    or called fine gold my confidence,^(BS)
25 if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great
    or because my hand had gotten much,^(BT)
26 if I have looked at the sun^[r] when it shone
    or the moon moving in splendor,^(BU)
27 and my heart has been secretly enticed,
    and my mouth has kissed my hand,
²⁸ this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,
    for I should have been false to God above.^(BV)

²⁹ “If I have rejoiced at the ruin of those who hated me
    or exulted when evil overtook them—^(BW)
30 I have not let my mouth sin
    by asking for their lives with a curse—^(BX)
31 if those of my tent ever said,
    ‘O that we might be sated with his flesh!’^[s]—^(BY)
32 the stranger has not lodged in the street;
    I have opened my doors to the traveler—^(BZ)
33 if I have concealed my transgressions as others do,^[t]
    by hiding my iniquity in my bosom,^(CA)
34 because I stood in great fear of the multitude,
    and the contempt of families terrified me,
    so that I kept silence and did not go out of doors—^(CB)
35 O that I had one to hear me!
    (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty^[u] answer me!)
    O that I had the indictment written by my adversary!^(CC)
36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder;
    I would bind it on me like a crown;
³⁷ I would give him an account of all my steps;
    like a prince I would approach him.^(CD)

³⁸ “If my land has cried out against me
    and its furrows have wept together,^(CE)
39 if I have eaten its yield without payment
    and caused the death of its owners,^(CF)
40 let thorns grow instead of wheat
    and foul weeds instead of barley.”

The words of Job are ended.^(CG)