25:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
25:2 “Dominion
he establishes peace in his heights.
25:3 Can his armies be numbered?
On whom does his light
25:4 How then can a human being be righteous before God?
How can one born of a woman be pure?
25:5 If even the moon is not bright,
and the stars are not pure as far as he is concerned,
25:6 how much less a mortal man, who is but a maggot
a son of man, who is only a worm!”
26:1 Then Job replied:
26:2 “How you have helped
How you have saved the person who has no strength!
26:3 How you have advised the one without wisdom,
and abundantly
26:4 To whom
And whose spirit has come forth from your mouth?
26:5 “The dead
those beneath the waters
and all that live in them.
26:6 The underworld
the place of destruction lies uncovered.
26:7 He spreads out the northern skies
he suspends the earth on nothing.
26:8 He locks the waters in his clouds,
and the clouds do not burst with the weight of them.
26:9 He conceals
shrouding it with his clouds.
26:10 He marks out the horizon
as a boundary between light and darkness.
26:11 The pillars
and are amazed at his rebuke.
26:12 By his power he stills
by his wisdom he cut Rahab the great sea monster
26:13 By his breath
his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
26:14 Indeed, these are but the outer fringes of his ways!
How faint is the whisper
But who can understand the thunder of his power?”
27:1 And Job took up his discourse again:
27:2 “As surely as God lives,
the Almighty, who has made my life bitter
27:3 for while
and the breath from God is in my nostrils,
27:4 my
and my tongue will whisper
27:5 I will never
until I die, I will not set aside my integrity!
27:6 I will maintain my righteousness
and never let it go;
my conscience
for as long as I live.
27:7 “May my enemy be like the wicked,
my adversary
27:8 For what hope does the godless have when he is cut off,
when God takes away his life?
27:9 Does God listen to his cry
when distress overtakes him?
27:10 Will he find delight
Will he call out to God at all times?
27:11 I will teach you
What is on the Almighty’s mind
27:12 If you yourselves have all seen this,
Why in the world
27:13 This is the portion of the wicked man
allotted by God,
the inheritance that evildoers receive
from the Almighty.
27:14 If his children increase – it is for the sword!
His offspring never have enough to eat.
27:15 Those who survive him are buried by the plague,
and their
27:16 If he piles up silver like dust
and stores up clothing like mounds of clay,
27:17 what he stores up
and an innocent man will inherit his silver.
27:18 The house he builds is as fragile as a moth’s cocoon,
like a hut
27:19 He goes to bed wealthy, but will do so no more.
When he opens his eyes, it is all gone.
27:20 Terrors overwhelm him like a flood;
at night a whirlwind carries him off.
27:21 The east wind carries him away, and he is gone;
it sweeps him out of his place.
27:22 It hurls itself against him without pity
as he flees headlong from its power.
27:23 It claps
and hisses him away from his place.
III. Job’s Search for Wisdom (28:1-28)
No Known Road to Wisdom28:1 “Surely
and a place where gold is refined.
28:2 Iron is taken from the ground,
and rock is poured out
28:3 Man puts an end to the darkness;
he searches the farthest recesses
for the ore in the deepest darkness.
28:4 Far from where people live
in places travelers have long forgotten,
far from other people he dangles and sways.
28:5 The earth, from which food comes,
is overturned below as though by fire;
28:6 a place whose stones are sapphires
and which contains dust of gold;
28:7 a hidden path
no falcon’s
28:8 Proud beasts
and no lion has passed along it.
28:9 On the flinty rock man has set to work
he has overturned mountains at their bases.
28:10 He has cut out channels
his eyes have spotted
28:11 He has searched
and what was hidden he has brought into the light.
28:12 “But wisdom – where can it be found?
Where is the place of understanding?
28:13 Mankind does not know its place;
it cannot be found in the land of the living.
28:14 The deep
And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
28:15 Fine gold cannot be given in exchange for it,
nor can its price be weighed out in silver.
28:16 It cannot be measured out for purchase
with precious onyx
28:17 Neither gold nor crystal
nor can a vase
28:18 Of coral and jasper no mention will be made;
the price
28:19 The topaz of Cush
it cannot be purchased with pure gold.
28:20 “But wisdom – where does it come from?
Where is the place of understanding?
28:21 For
from the eyes of every living creature,
and from the birds of the sky it has been concealed.
28:22 Destruction
‘With our ears we have heard a rumor about where it can be found.’
28:23 God understands the way to it,
and he alone knows its place.
28:24 For he looks to the ends of the earth
and observes everything under the heavens.
28:25 When he made
and measured
28:26 When he imposed a limit
and a path for the thunderstorm,
28:27 then he looked at wisdom
he established
28:28 And he said to mankind,
‘The fear of the Lord
and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”
IV. Job’s Concluding Soliloquy (29:1-31:40)
Job Recalls His Former Condition29:1 Then Job continued
29:2 “O that I could be
in the months now gone,
in the days
29:3 when
to shine upon my head,
and by his light
I walked
29:4 just as I was in my most productive time,
when God’s intimate friendship
29:5 when the Almighty
and my children were
29:6 when my steps
and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil!
29:7 When I went out to the city gate
and secured my seat in the public square,
29:8 the young men would see me and step aside,
and the old men would get up and remain standing;
29:9 the chief men refrained from talking
and covered their mouths with their hands;
29:10 the voices of the nobles fell silent,
and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.
29:11 “As soon as the ear heard these things,
and when the eye saw them, it bore witness to me,
29:12 for I rescued the poor who cried out for help,
and the orphan who
29:13 the blessing of the dying man descended on me,
and I made the widow’s heart rejoice;
29:14 I put on righteousness and it clothed me,
my just dealing
29:15 I was eyes for the blind
and feet for the lame;
29:16 I was a father
and I investigated the case of the person I did not know;
29:17 I broke the fangs
and made him drop
29:18 “Then I thought, ‘I will die in my own home,
my days as numerous as the grains of sand.
29:19 My roots reach the water,
and the dew lies on my branches all night long.
29:20 My glory
and my bow ever new in my hand.’
29:21 “People
they kept silent for my advice.
29:22 After I had spoken, they did not respond;
my words fell on them drop by drop.
29:23 They waited for me as people wait
and they opened their mouths
as for
29:24 If I smiled at them, they hardly believed it;
and they did not cause the light of my face to darken.
29:25 I chose
and sat as their chief;
I lived like a king among his troops;
I was like one who comforts mourners.