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Chapter 15
Eliphaz’s Second Speech
15:1 Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
15:2 Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?
15:3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
15:4 Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.
15:5 For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
15:6 Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee.
15:7 Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?
15:8 Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
15:9 What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us?
15:10 With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.
15:11 Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?
15:12 Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,
15:13 That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?
15:14 What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15:15 Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.
15:16 How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?
15:17 I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare;
15:18 Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:
15:19 Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.
15:20 The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.
15:21 A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
15:22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.
15:23 He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
15:24 Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
15:25 For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.
15:26 He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:
15:27 Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.
15:28 And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.
15:29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.
15:30 He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.
15:31 Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.
15:32 It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
15:33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.
15:34 For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
15:35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.
Chapter 16
Job’s Reply to Eliphaz
16:1 Then Job answered and said,
16:2 I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.
16:3 Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?
16:4 I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you.
16:5 But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief.
16:6 Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged: and though I forbear, what am I eased?
16:7 But now he hath made me weary: thou hast made desolate all my company.
16:8 And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face.
16:9 He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
16:10 They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me.
16:11 God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.
16:12 I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: he hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark.
16:13 His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground.
16:14 He breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth upon me like a giant.
16:15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust.
16:16 My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
16:17 Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure.
16:18 O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place.
16:19 Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high.
16:20 My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.
16:21 O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!
16:22 When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.
Chapter 17
17:1 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.
17:2 Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?
17:3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?
17:4 For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them.
17:5 He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.
17:6 He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.
17:7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.
17:8 Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.
17:9 The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.
17:10 But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.
17:11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.
17:12 They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.
17:13 If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.
17:14 I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.
17:15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?
17:16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.
Chapter 18
Bildad’s Second Speech
18:1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
18:2 How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? mark, and afterwards we will speak.
18:3 Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight?
18:4 He teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place?
18:5 Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.
18:6 The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.
18:7 The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down.
18:8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare.
18:9 The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him.
18:10 The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.
18:11 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.
18:12 His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side.
18:13 It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.
18:14 His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.
18:15 It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.
18:16 His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.
18:17 His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.
18:18 He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.
18:19 He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.
18:20 They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted.
18:21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God.
Chapter 19
Job’s Reply to Bildad
19:1 Then Job answered and said,
19:2 How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?
19:3 These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me.
19:4 And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.
19:5 If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach:
19:6 Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.
19:7 Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.
19:8 He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.
19:9 He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
19:10 He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.
19:11 He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.
19:12 His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle.
19:13 He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.
19:14 My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.
19:15 They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.
19:16 I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth.
19:17 My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children's sake of mine own body.
19:18 Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.
19:19 All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.
19:20 My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
19:21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
19:22 Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
19:23 Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!
19:24 That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!
19:25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
19:26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
19:27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.
19:28 But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me?
19:29 Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.
Chapter 20
Zophar’s Second Speech
20:1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
20:2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.
20:3 I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.
20:4 Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,
20:5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
20:6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;
20:7 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?
20:8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
20:9 The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.
20:10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.
20:11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.
20:12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;
20:13 Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:
20:14 Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.
20:15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.
20:16 He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him.
20:17 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.
20:18 That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.
20:19 Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;
20:20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.
20:21 There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.
20:22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.
20:23 When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.
20:24 He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.
20:25 It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him.
20:26 All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.
20:27 The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.
20:28 The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
20:29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.
Chapter 21
Job’s Reply to Zophar
21:1 But Job answered and said,
21:2 Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations.
21:3 Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.
21:4 As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?
21:5 Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.
21:6 Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.
21:7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?
21:8 Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.
21:9 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.
21:10 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
21:11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
21:12 They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.
21:13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.
21:14 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
21:15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?
21:16 Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
21:17 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.
21:18 They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.
21:19 God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.
21:20 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21:21 For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?
21:22 Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high.
21:23 One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.
21:24 His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow.
21:25 And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.
21:26 They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.
21:27 Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.
21:28 For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?
21:29 Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,
21:30 That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.
21:31 Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?
21:32 Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.
21:33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.
21:34 How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?
Chapter 22
Eliphaz’s Third Speech
22:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
22:2 Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?
22:3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?
22:4 Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment?
22:5 Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?
22:6 For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
22:7 Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.
22:8 But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it.
22:9 Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
22:10 Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;
22:11 Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.
22:12 Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
22:13 And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?
22:14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.
22:15 Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?
22:16 Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood:
22:17 Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?
22:18 Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
22:19 The righteous see it, and are glad: and the innocent laugh them to scorn.
22:20 Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth.
22:21 Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
22:22 Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.
22:23 If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.
22:24 Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.
22:25 Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver.
22:26 For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.
22:27 Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows.
22:28 Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.
22:29 When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.
22:30 He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.
Chapter 23
Job’s Reply to Eliphaz
23:1 Then Job answered and said,
23:2 Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
23:3 Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!
23:4 I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
23:5 I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.
23:6 Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.
23:7 There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.
23:8 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:
23:9 On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:
23:10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
23:11 My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.
23:12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
23:13 But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.
23:14 For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.
23:15 Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.
23:16 For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:
23:17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.
Chapter 24
The Apparent Indifference of God
24:1 Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
24:2 Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.
24:3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
24:4 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
24:5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.
24:6 They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
24:7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.
24:8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
24:9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
24:10 They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;
24:11 Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.
24:12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.
24:13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
24:14 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
24:15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.
24:16 In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.
24:17 For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
24:18 He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.
24:19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.
24:20 The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.
24:21 He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.
24:22 He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.
24:23 Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways.
24:24 They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
24:25 And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?
Chapter 25
Bildad’s Third Speech
25:1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
25:2 Dominion and fear are with him, he maketh peace in his high places.
25:3 Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his light arise?
25:4 How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?
25:5 Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.
25:6 How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?
Chapter 26
Job’s Reply to Bildad
26:1 But Job answered and said,
26:2 How hast thou helped him that is without power? how savest thou the arm that hath no strength?
26:3 How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom? and how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is?
26:4 To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?
26:5 Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof.
26:6 Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.
26:7 He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.
26:8 He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.
26:9 He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it.
26:10 He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.
26:11 The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof.
26:12 He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud.
26:13 By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.
26:14 Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?
Chapter 27
A Protest of Innocence
27:1 Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,
27:2 As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;
27:3 All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;
27:4 My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.
27:5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
27:6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
27:7 Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.
27:8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?
27:9 Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?
27:10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God?
27:11 I will teach you by the hand of God: that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal.
27:12 Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it; why then are ye thus altogether vain?
27:13 This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty.
27:14 If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
27:15 Those that remain of him shall be buried in death: and his widows shall not weep.
27:16 Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay;
27:17 He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver.
27:18 He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh.
27:19 The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered: he openeth his eyes, and he is not.
27:20 Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night.
27:21 The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out of his place.
27:22 For God shall cast upon him, and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand.
27:23 Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.
Chapter 28
No Known Road to Wisdom
28:1 Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they fine it.
28:2 Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone.
28:3 He setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all perfection: the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death.
28:4 The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men.
28:5 As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire.
28:6 The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and it hath dust of gold.
28:7 There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen:
28:8 The lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it.
28:9 He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots.
28:10 He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing.
28:11 He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.
28:12 But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?
28:13 Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.
28:14 The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me.
28:15 It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.
28:16 It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
28:17 The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold.
28:18 No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies.
28:19 The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold.
28:20 Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?
28:21 Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air.
28:22 Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.
28:23 God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof.
28:24 For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven;
28:25 To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure.
28:26 When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder:
28:27 Then did he see it, and declare it; he prepared it, yea, and searched it out.
28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the LORD, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding. |