ESV - Job Chapter 28 to 29

28 Job Continues: Where Is Wisdom?

28:1 “Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold that they refine. ²Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted from the ore. ³Man puts an end to darkness and searches out to the farthest limit the ore in gloom and deep darkness. ⁴He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives; they are forgotten by travelers; they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro. ⁵As for the earth, out of it comes bread, but underneath it is turned up as by fire. ⁶Its stones are the place of sapphires,[1] and it has dust of gold.

⁷“That path no bird of prey knows, and the falcon’s eye has not seen it. ⁸The proud beasts have not trodden it; the lion has not passed over it.

⁹“Man puts his hand to the flinty rock and overturns mountains by the roots. ¹⁰He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing. ¹¹He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle, and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.

¹²“But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? ¹³Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living. ¹⁴The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’ and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’ ¹⁵It cannot be bought for gold, and silver cannot be weighed as its price. ¹⁶It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire. ¹⁷Gold and glass cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold. ¹⁸No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal; the price of wisdom is above pearls. ¹⁹The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, nor can it be valued in pure gold.

²⁰“From where, then, does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding? ²¹It is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the air. ²²Abaddon and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

²³“God understands the way to it, and he knows its place. ²⁴For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. ²⁵When he gave to the wind its weight and apportioned the waters by measure, ²⁶when he made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder, ²⁷then he saw it and declared it; he established it, and searched it out. ²⁸And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

[1] Or lapis lazuli; also verse 16

29Job’s Summary Defense

29:1 And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

²“Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me, ³when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness, ⁴as I was in my prime,[2] when the friendship of God was upon my tent, ⁵when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were all around me, ⁶when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil! ⁷When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the square, ⁸the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose and stood; ⁹the princes refrained from talking and laid their hand on their mouth; ¹⁰the voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. ¹¹When the ear heard, it called me blessed, and when the eye saw, it approved, ¹²because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him. ¹³The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. ¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban. ¹⁵I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. ¹⁶I was a father to the needy, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know. ¹⁷I broke the fangs of the unrighteous and made him drop his prey from his teeth. ¹⁸Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand, ¹⁹my roots spread out to the waters, with the dew all night on my branches, ²⁰my glory fresh with me, and my bow ever new in my hand.’

²¹“Men listened to me and waited and kept silence for my counsel. ²²After I spoke they did not speak again, and my word dropped upon them. ²³They waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain. ²⁴I smiled on them when they had no confidence, and the light of my face they did not cast down. ²⁵I chose their way and sat as chief, and I lived like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners.

[2] Hebrew my autumn days