Old/New Testament

28 Job: There is a place where silver is mined,
        a place where gold is refined.
²     There iron is dug from the earth,
        and copper is smelted from ore.
³     Humans put an end to darkness,
        and search in every last corner
    For the ore that is in gloom and darkness.
⁴     In the earth they cut a shaft
        in a place forgotten, far from the beaten path;
    They descend on ropes,
        swinging dangerously back and forth.
⁵     The ground above yields food;
        the earth below is turned as if fire has destroyed it
⁶     Where earth gives up sapphires from her rocks
        and bits of gold from her dirt.
⁷     No bird of prey knows this way, this secret path down below;
        no falcon’s eye has ever peered into it.
⁸     No proud beast has ever reached this place;
        no lordly lion has marched over it.

⁹     The miner breaks apart flinty stone,
        uprooting the ancient mountains.
¹⁰     He carves tunnels through the rock,
        revealing precious treasures.
¹¹     He dams up^[a] the underground streams until they cease seeping,
        and he brings out into the light what was hidden there in the darkness.

¹²     But where is wisdom found,
        and where does understanding dwell?

¹³ Job: No human perceives wisdom’s true value,
        nor has she been found in the land of the living.
¹⁴     The deep says, “She is not to be seen within me.”
        “Nor within me,” says the voice of the raging sea.
¹⁵     No gold can be given in trade for wisdom,
        nor a sum of silver weighed out as her price.
¹⁶     She cannot be bought with all the gold of Ophir,
        neither with onyx nor sapphire.
¹⁷     The shimmer of gold and brightness of glass cannot compare,
        and no refined gold jewelry is worth her in trade.
¹⁸     Perish the mention of coral and crystal;
        even more than pearls is the value of wisdom.
¹⁹     Ethiopian topaz—unequal as well;
        even gold, unalloyed, is too paltry indeed.
²⁰     Then from where does wisdom come?
        Where does understanding dwell?
²¹     She is hidden away from every eye,
        even from birds looking down from the sky.
²²     Destruction and Death have both confessed,
        “Rumors are all we know about her.”

²³     God understands wisdom’s path and way;
        her place is known to Him alone.
²⁴     For He gazes out to the edge of the earth,
        sees all that falls beneath the sky overhead.
²⁵     He lent the wind its weight and force
        and measured out the waters’ spread.
²⁶     When He set a limit on the rain that falls
        and made the thunderbolt a road to race,
²⁷     Then He saw wisdom and made her known,
        He settled her and searched out for her a place.
²⁸     And to humankind, He said, “Now, the fear of the Lord is wisdom,
        and to depart from evil is understanding.”

² Job: Ah, that I were as I once was, months ago
        during the time when God oversaw me,
³     When His lamp shone above my head,
        and by His light, I walked through the darkness.
⁴     Ah, to be in the ripest time of life once more—
        when the intimacies of friendship with God enfolded my tent,
⁵     When the Highest One^[b] was with me
        and my children encircled me,
⁶     When my steps were bathed in milk
        and the rock poured out rivers of olive oil, showering my body,
⁷     When I went up to the gate of the city,
        when I took my seat in the town square where the elders meet.
⁸     There the young saw me and made room for me, in deference to elders.
        The old rose and stood out of respect.
⁹     The leaders stopped talking
        with their hands over their mouths.
¹⁰     The voices of nobles fell to a hush;
        their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths.
¹¹     Every ear that heard me blessed me,
        and every eye that saw me testified to my greatness.
¹²     After all, I rescued the poor when they cried out for help
        and assisted the orphans when they had no one else.

¹³     The dying spoke their blessings over me,
        and the widows sang their joyful songs honoring what I did.
¹⁴     I adorned myself in righteousness,
        and it covered me;
        my justice fit me like a cloak and turban—
        conveying both my dignity and my authority.
¹⁵     I was the eyes for the blind,
        the feet for the lame,
¹⁶     A father for the needy,
        and I sought for the cause of whom I did not know.
¹⁷     I broke out the fangs of the wicked
        and wrested prey from their jaws.
¹⁸     Then I said, “I will pass from this earth in the comfort of my nest.
        My days will be more numerous than a beach’s grains of sand.
¹⁹     My roots will grow deep, spreading out to the water’s edge,
        and in the night, the dew will come to rest on my branches.
²⁰     Respect will be accorded me every day,
        my skill with the bow always new in my hand.”

²¹     People used to listen to me,
        the sense of expectation visible on their faces;
        they waited in silence for my advice.
²²     And when I finished, they did not hurry to speak again.
        They waited while my words dropped like dew upon them.
²³     Indeed, they waited for me as one waits for a good rain,
        and they opened their mouths as if to catch spring showers on their tongues.
²⁴     I smiled upon them when their confidence flagged,
        and they took comfort in my beaming face.^[c]
25     I led them in their way.
        I sat as their leader.
    I lived like a king among his troops.
        I was as a happy man spreading comfort among the mourners.