The Reading
Job 28
"Indeed, there is a mine for silver
and a place for gold to be refined.
Iron is taken from dust,
and he pours out copper from ore.
He puts an end to darkness,
and he searches out the farthest limits
for the ore in gloom and deep shadow.
He breaks open a mine shaft away from where people dwell;
those who are forgotten by travelers,
they dangle, they sway far away from human beings.
As for the earth, from it comes food,
but underneath it, it is turned up as by fire.
Its stones are the place of sapphire,
and the earthen dirt has gold.
"It is a path a bird of prey does not know
and the black kite's eye has not seen.
Proud wild animals have not trodden it;
the lion in its prime has not prowled over it.
He puts his hand on the hard rock;
he overturns mountains by the roots.
He cuts out tunnels in the rocks,
and his eye sees every treasure.
He dams up rivers from their sources,
and he brings secret things to the light.
"But from where will wisdom be found?
And where in the world is the place of understanding?
A human being does not know its proper value,
and it is not found in the land of the living.
The deep says, 'It is not in me,'
and the sea says, 'It is not with me.'
"Refined gold cannot be gotten in its place,
and silver cannot be weighed out as its price.
It cannot be bought for the gold of Ophir,
for precious onyx or sapphire.
Gold and glass cannot be compared with it,
and its substitution cannot be an ornament of refined gold.
Black corals and crystal will not be mentioned,
and wisdom's price is more than red corals.
The topaz of Cush cannot be compared with it;
it cannot be bought for pure gold.
Indeed, from where does wisdom come?
And where in the world is the place of understanding?
It is hidden from the eyes of all living,
and it is concealed from the birds of the heaven.
Abaddon and Death say,
'We heard its rumor with our ears.'
"God understands its way,
and he knows its place,
for he himself looks to the end of the earth;
he sees under all the heaven.
When he gave weight to the wind
and he apportioned the waters by measure,
when he made a rule for the rain
and a way for the thunder's lightning bolt,
then he saw it and talked about it;
he established it, and moreover, he explored it.
And to the human beings he said,
'Look, the fear of the Lord is wisdom,
and to depart from evil is understanding.'"
Job 29
Then Job again took up his discourse and said,
"O that I were as in the months before,
as in the days when God watched over me,
when his shining lamp was over my head—
by his light I walked through darkness—
as when I was in the days of my prime,
when God's confiding was over my house,
when Shaddaiwas still with me,
my children were all around me,
when my paths were washed in sour milk,
and the rock poured out streams of oil for me.
"At my going out the gate to the city,
I secured my seat in the square.
Young men saw me and stepped aside,
and the aged rose up and stood.
Officials refrained from talking,
and they laid their hand on their mouth.
The voices of nobles were hushed,
and their tongue stuck to their palate.
"When the ear heard and commended me,
and the eye saw and testified in support of me
because I saved the needy who cried for help,
and I saved the orphan for whom there was no helper.
The blessing of the wretched came upon me,
and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and a headband.
"I was eyes to the blind,
and I was feet to the lame.
I was a father to the poor,
and I investigated the stranger's legal dispute.
And I broke the evil one's jaw bones,
and I made his prey drop from his teeth.
"And I thought, 'I will pass away in my nest,
and like the phoenix I shall multiply my days.
My roots were open to water,
and dew spent the night on my branches;
My glory was new with me,
and I was revitalized regularly.'