Job 26 - 29

Who Can Understand God?

Then Job answered and said, 2

“What a help you are to the one without power!

How you have saved the arm without strength!

What counsel you have given to one without wisdom!

What sound wisdom you have abundantly made known!

To whom have you declared words?

And whose breath comes out from you?

“The departed spirits tremble

Under the waters and their inhabitants.

Naked is Sheol before Him,

And Abaddon has no covering.

He stretches out the north over what is formless

And hangs the earth on nothing.

He wraps up the waters in His clouds,

And the cloud does not break out under them.

He obscures the face of His throne

And spreads His cloud over it.

He has marked a circle on the surface of the waters

At the boundary of light and darkness.

The pillars of heaven tremble

And are astonished at His rebuke.

He quieted the sea with His power,

And by His understanding He crushed Rahab.

By His breath the heavens are made beautiful;

His hand has pierced the fleeing serpent.

Behold, these are the fringes of His ways;

And how only with a whisper of a word do we hear of Him!

But His mighty thunder, who can understand?”

I Hold Fast My Righteousness

Then Job continued to lift up his discourse and said, 2

“As God lives, who has removed my justice,

And the Almighty, who has embittered my soul,

For as long as breath is in me,

And the spirit from God is in my nostrils,

My lips certainly will not speak unrighteousness,

Nor will my tongue utter deceit.

Far be it from me that I should declare you right;

Till I breathe my last I will not remove my integrity from me.

I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go.

My heart does not reproach any of my days.

“May my enemy be as the wicked

And the one who rises against me as the unjust.

For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off,

When God requires his soul?

Will God hear his cry

When distress comes upon him?

Will he take delight in the Almighty?

Will he call on God at all times?

I will instruct you in the power of God;

What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

Behold, all of you have seen it;

Why then do you speak with utter vanity?

“This is the portion of a wicked man from God,

And the inheritance which the ruthless receive from the Almighty.

Though his sons are many, they are destined for the sword;

And his offspring will not be satisfied with bread.

His survivors will be buried because of the plague,

And their widows will not be able to weep.

Though he piles up silver like dust

And prepares garments as plentiful as the clay,

He may prepare it, but the righteous will wear it,

And the innocent will divide the silver.

He has built his house like the moth,

Or as a hut which the watchman has made.

He lies down rich, but never again;

He opens his eyes, and it is no longer.

Terrors overtake him like many waters;

A tempest steals him away in the night.

The east wind carries him away, and he goes,

And it whirls him away from his place.

For it will hurl at him without sparing;

He will surely try to flee from its power.

Men will clap their hands at him

And will hiss him from his place.

Where Can Wisdom Be Found?

“Surely there is a mine for silver,

And a place where they refine for gold.

Iron is taken from the dust,

And copper is smelted from rock.

Man puts an end to darkness,

And to the farthest limit he searches out

The rock in thick darkness and shadow of death.

He sinks a shaft far from habitation,

Forgotten by the foot;

They hang and swing to and fro far from men.

The earth, from it comes food,

And underneath it is overturned as fire.

Its rocks are the source of sapphires,

And its dust contains gold.

The path no bird of prey knows,

Nor has the falcon’s eye caught sight of it.

The proud beasts have not trodden it,

Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.

He sends his hand forth to the flint;

He overturns the mountains at the base.

He breaks out channels through the rocks,

And his eye sees anything precious.

He dams up the streams from flowing,

And what is hidden he brings out to the light.

“But where can wisdom be found?

And where is the place of understanding?

Man does not know its worth,

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.’

Pure gold cannot be given in place of it,

Nor can silver be weighed as its price.

It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,

In precious onyx or sapphire.

Gold or glass cannot meet its worth,

Nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold.

Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned;

And the acquisition of wisdom is above that of pearls.

The topaz of Ethiopia cannot meet its worth,

Nor can it be valued in pure gold.

Where then does wisdom come from?

And where is the place of understanding?

Thus it is hidden from the eyes of all living

And concealed from the birds of the sky.

Abaddon and Death say,

‘With our ears we have heard a report of it.’

“God understands its way,

And He knows its place.

For He looks to the ends of the earth

And sees everything under the heavens.

When He set weight to the wind

And meted out the waters by measure,

When He set a limit for the rain

And a course for the thunderbolt,

Then He saw it and recounted it;

He established it and also searched it out.

So He said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;

And to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

Job Continues His Discourse

And Job continued to lift up his discourse and said, 2

“Oh that I were as in months gone by,

As in the days when God kept me,

When His lamp shone over my head,

And by His light I walked through darkness,

As I was in the prime of my days,

When the intimate counsel with God was over my tent,

When the Almighty was yet with me,

And my children were around me,

When my steps were bathed in butter,

And the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

When I went out to the gate of the city,

When I took my seat in the square,

The young men saw me and hid,

And the old men arose and stood.

The princes stopped talking

And put their hands on their mouths;

The voice of the nobles was hidden away,

And their tongue clung to their palate.

For the ear heard, and it called me blessed,

And the eye saw, and it gave witness of me,

Because I provided escape for the afflicted who cried for help,

And the orphan who had no helper.

The blessing of the one ready to perish came upon me,

And I made the widow’s heart sing for joy.

I clothed myself with righteousness, and it clothed me;

My justice was like a robe and a turban.

I was eyes to the blind

And feet to the lame.

I was a father to the needy,

And I searched out the case which I did not know.

I broke the fangs of the unjust

And snatched the prey from his teeth.

Then I said, ‘I will breathe my last in my nest,

And I shall multiply my days as the sand.

My root is spread out to the waters,

And dew lies all night on my branch.

My glory is ever new with me,

And my bow is renewed in my hand.’

“To me they listened and waited,

And kept silent for my counsel.

After my words they did not speak again,

And my speech dropped on them.

They waited for me as for the rain,

And opened their mouth as for the late rain.

I laughed with them as they could not believe it,

And the light of my face they did not cast down.

I chose a way for them and sat as chief,

And dwelt as their head among the troops,

As one who comforted the mourners.