Job 27 - 28 - Legacy Standard Bible

Job 27 - 28

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.’”