Job’s Discourse on Wisdom

28 “Surely there is a mine for silver,
And a place where gold is refined.
Iron is taken from the [a]earth,
And copper is smelted from ore.
Man puts an end to darkness,
And searches every recess
For ore in the darkness and the shadow of death.
He breaks open a shaft away from people;
In places forgotten by feet
They hang far away from men;
They swing to and fro.
As for the earth, from it comes bread,
But underneath it is turned up as by fire;
Its stones are the source of sapphires,
And it contains gold dust.
That path no bird knows,
Nor has the falcon’s eye seen it.
The [b]proud lions have not trodden it,
Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.
He puts his hand on the flint;
He overturns the mountains [c]at the roots.
10 He cuts out channels in the rocks,
And his eye sees every precious thing.
11 He dams up the streams from trickling;
What is hidden he brings forth to light.

12 “But(A) where can wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13 Man does not know its (B)value,
Nor is it found in the land of the living.
14 (C)The deep says, ‘It is not in me’;
And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15 It (D)cannot be purchased for gold,
Nor can silver be weighed for its price.
16 It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
In precious onyx or sapphire.
17 Neither (E)gold nor crystal can equal it,
Nor can it be exchanged for [d]jewelry of fine gold.
18 No mention shall be made of [e]coral or quartz,
For the price of wisdom is above (F)rubies.
19 The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
Nor can it be valued in pure (G)gold.

20 “From(H) where then does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living,
And concealed from the birds of the [f]air.
22 (I)Destruction[g] and Death say,
‘We have heard a report about it with our ears.’
23 God understands its way,
And He knows its place.
24 For He looks to the ends of the earth,
And (J)sees under the whole heavens,
25 (K)To establish a weight for the wind,
And apportion the waters by measure.
26 When He (L)made a law for the rain,
And a path for the thunderbolt,
27 Then He saw [h]wisdom and declared it;
He prepared it, indeed, He searched it out.
28 And to man He said,
‘Behold, (M)the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
And to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”

Job’s Summary Defense

29 Job further continued his discourse, and said:

“Oh, that I were as in months (N)past,
As in the days when God (O)watched over me;
(P)When His lamp shone upon my head,
And when by His light I walked through darkness;
Just as I was in the days of my prime,
When (Q)the friendly counsel of God was over my tent;
When the Almighty was yet with me,
When my children were around me;
When (R)my steps were bathed with [i]cream,
And (S)the rock poured out rivers of oil for me!

“When I went out to the gate by the city,
When I took my seat in the open square,
The young men saw me and hid,
And the aged arose and stood;
The princes refrained from talking,
And (T)put their hand on their mouth;
10 The voice of nobles was hushed,
And their (U)tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
11 When the ear heard, then it blessed me,
And when the eye saw, then it approved me;
12 Because (V)I delivered the poor who cried out,
The fatherless and the one who had no helper.
13 The blessing of a perishing man came upon me,
And I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
14 (W)I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
My justice was like a robe and a turban.
15 I was (X)eyes to the blind,
And I was feet to the lame.
16 I was a father to the poor,
And (Y)I searched out the case that I did not know.
17 I broke (Z)the fangs of the wicked,
And plucked the victim from his teeth.

18 “Then I said, (AA)‘I shall die in my nest,
And multiply my days as the sand.
19 (AB)My root is spread out (AC)to the waters,
And the dew lies all night on my branch.
20 My glory is fresh within me,
And my (AD)bow is renewed in my hand.’

21 Men listened to me and waited,
And kept silence for my counsel.
22 After my words they did not speak again,
And my speech settled on them as dew.
23 They waited for me as for the rain,
And they opened their mouth wide as for (AE)the spring rain.
24 If I mocked at them, they did not believe it,
And the light of my countenance they did not cast down.
25 I chose the way for them, and sat as chief;
So I dwelt as a king in the army,
As one who comforts mourners.

Footnotes

  1. Job 28:2 Lit. dust
  2. Job 28:8 Lit. sons of pride, figurative of the great lions
  3. Job 28:9 At the base
  4. Job 28:17 vessels
  5. Job 28:18 Heb. ramoth
  6. Job 28:21 heaven
  7. Job 28:22 Heb. Abaddon
  8. Job 28:27 Lit. it
  9. Job 29:6 So with ancient vss. and a few Heb. mss. (cf. Job 20:17); MT wrath

Greeting

Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but (A)through Jesus Christ and God the Father (B)who raised Him from the dead), and all the brethren who are with me,

To the churches of Galatia:

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, (C)who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us (D)from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Only One Gospel

I marvel that you are turning away so soon (E)from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, (F)which is not another; but there are some (G)who trouble you and want to (H)pervert[a] the gospel of Christ. But even if (I)we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be [b]accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you (J)than what you have received, let him be accursed.

10 For (K)do I now (L)persuade men, or God? Or (M)do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

Call to Apostleship(N)

11 (O)But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For (P)I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came (Q)through the revelation of Jesus Christ.

13 For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how (R)I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and (S)tried to destroy it. 14 And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, (T)being more exceedingly zealous (U)for the traditions of my fathers.

15 But when it pleased God, (V)who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, 16 (W)to reveal His Son in me, that (X)I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with (Y)flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

Contacts at Jerusalem(Z)

18 Then after three years (AA)I went up to Jerusalem to see [c]Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But (AB)I saw none of the other apostles except (AC)James, the Lord’s brother. 20 (Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.)

21 (AD)Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which (AE)were in Christ. 23 But they were (AF)hearing only, “He who formerly (AG)persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they (AH)glorified God in me.

Defending the Gospel(AI)

Then after fourteen years (AJ)I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. And I went up [d]by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but (AK)privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means (AL)I might run, or had run, in vain. Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And this occurred because of (AM)false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our (AN)liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, (AO)that they might bring us into bondage), to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that (AP)the truth of the gospel might continue with you.

But from those (AQ)who seemed to be something—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; (AR)God [e]shows personal favoritism to no man—for those who seemed to be something (AS)added nothing to me. But on the contrary, (AT)when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised (AU)had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter (for He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the (AV)circumcised (AW)also (AX)worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles), and when James, [f]Cephas, and John, who seemed to be (AY)pillars, perceived (AZ)the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, (BA)that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 They desired only that we should remember the poor, (BB)the very thing which I also was eager to do.

No Return to the Law

11 (BC)Now when [g]Peter had come to Antioch, I [h]withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; 12 for before certain men came from James, (BD)he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing [i]those who were of the circumcision. 13 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.

14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about (BE)the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter (BF)before them all, (BG)“If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, [j]why do you compel Gentiles to live as [k]Jews? 15 (BH)We who are Jews by nature, and not (BI)sinners of the Gentiles, 16 (BJ)knowing that a man is not [l]justified by the works of the law but (BK)by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not (BL)by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

17 “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found (BM)sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. 19 For I (BN)through the law (BO)died to the law that I might (BP)live to God. 20 I have been (BQ)crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh (BR)I live by faith in the Son of God, (BS)who loved me and gave Himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for (BT)if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died [m]in vain.”

Footnotes

  1. Galatians 1:7 distort
  2. Galatians 1:8 Gr. anathema
  3. Galatians 1:18 NU Cephas
  4. Galatians 2:2 because of
  5. Galatians 2:6 Lit. does not receive the face of a man
  6. Galatians 2:9 Peter
  7. Galatians 2:11 NU Cephas
  8. Galatians 2:11 opposed
  9. Galatians 2:12 Jewish Christians
  10. Galatians 2:14 NU how can you
  11. Galatians 2:14 Some interpreters stop the quotation here.
  12. Galatians 2:16 declared righteous
  13. Galatians 2:21 for nothing

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