Job 28-29

American Standard Version

28 ^[a]Surely there is a mine for silver,
And a place for gold which they refine.
² Iron is taken out of the ^[b]earth,
And copper is molten out of the stone.
³ Man setteth an end to darkness,
And searcheth out, to the furthest bound,
The stones of obscurity and of thick darkness.
^4 [c]He breaketh open a shaft away from where men sojourn;
They are forgotten of the foot;
They hang afar from men, they ^[d]swing to and fro.
⁵ As for the earth, out of it cometh bread;
And underneath it is turned up as it were by fire.
⁶ The stones thereof are the place of sapphires,
^[e]And it hath dust of gold.
⁷ That path no bird of prey knoweth,
Neither hath the falcon’s eye seen it:
⁸ The ^[f]proud beasts have not trodden it,
Nor hath the fierce lion passed thereby.
⁹ He putteth forth his hand upon the flinty rock;
He overturneth the mountains by the roots.
¹⁰ He cutteth out ^[g]channels among the rocks;
And his eye seeth every precious thing.
¹¹ He bindeth the streams ^[h]that they trickle not;
And the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.

¹² But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
¹³ Man knoweth not the price thereof;
Neither is it found in the land of the living.
¹⁴ The deep saith, It is not in me;
And the sea saith, It is not with me.
¹⁵ It cannot be gotten for ^[i]gold,
Neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.
¹⁶ It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir,
With the precious ^[j]onyx, or the sapphire.
¹⁷ Gold and glass cannot equal it,
Neither shall it be exchanged for ^[k]jewels of fine gold.
¹⁸ No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal:
Yea, the price of wisdom is above ^[l]rubies.
¹⁹ The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it,
Neither shall it be valued with pure gold.
²⁰ Whence then cometh wisdom?
And where is the place of understanding?
²¹ Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living,
And kept close from the birds of the heavens.
^22 [m]Destruction and Death say,
We have heard a rumor thereof with our ears.

²³ God understandeth the way thereof,
And he knoweth the place thereof.
²⁴ For he looketh to the ends of the earth,
And seeth under the whole heaven;
^25 [n]To make a weight for the wind:
Yea, he meteth out the waters by measure.
²⁶ When he made a decree for the rain,
And a way for the lightning of the thunder;
²⁷ Then did he see it, and ^[o]declare it;
He established it, yea, and searched it out.
²⁸ And unto man he said,
Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
And to depart from evil is understanding.

² Oh that I were as in the months of old,
As in the days when God watched over me;
³ When his lamp shined ^[p]upon my head,
And by his light I walked through darkness;
⁴ As I was in ^[q]the ripeness of my days,
When the ^[r]friendship of God was upon my tent;
⁵ When the Almighty was yet with me,
And my children were about me;
⁶ When my steps were washed with butter,
And the rock poured me out streams of oil!
⁷ When I went forth to the gate unto the city,
When I prepared my seat in the ^[s]street,
⁸ The young men saw me and hid themselves,
And the aged rose up and stood;
⁹ The princes refrained from talking,
And laid their hand on their mouth;
¹⁰ The voice of the nobles was ^[t]hushed,
And their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
¹¹ For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me;
And when the eye saw me, it gave witness unto me:
¹² Because I delivered the poor that cried,
The fatherless also, ^[u]that had none to help him.
¹³ The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me;
And I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
¹⁴ I put on righteousness, and it ^[v]clothed me:
My justice was as a robe and a ^[w]diadem.
¹⁵ I was eyes to the blind,
And feet was I to the lame.
¹⁶ I was a father to the needy:
And ^[x]the cause of him that I knew not I searched out.
¹⁷ And I brake the ^[y]jaws of the unrighteous,
And plucked the prey out of his teeth.
¹⁸ Then I said, I shall die ^[z]in my nest,
And I shall multiply my days as the sand:
¹⁹ My root is ^[aa]spread out ^[ab]to the waters,
And the dew lieth all night upon my branch:
²⁰ My glory is fresh in me,
And my bow is renewed in my hand.
²¹ Unto me men gave ear, and waited,
And kept silence for my counsel.
²² After my words they spake not again;
And my speech distilled upon them.
²³ And they waited for me as for the rain;
And they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.
²⁴ I smiled on them, when they had no confidence;
And the light of my countenance they cast not down.
²⁵ I chose out their way, and sat as chief,
And dwelt as a king in the army,
As one that comforteth the mourners.