28:1 “Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold which they refine.
28:2 Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted out of the ore.
28:3 Man sets an end to darkness, and searches out, to the furthest bound, the stones of obscurity and of thick darkness.
28:4 He breaks open a shaft away from where people live. They are forgotten by the foot. They hang far from men, they swing back and forth.
28:5 As for the earth, out of it comes bread; Underneath it is turned up as it were by fire.
28:6 Sapphires come from its rocks. It has dust of gold.
28:7 That path no bird of prey knows, neither has the falcon’s eye seen it.
28:8 The proud animals have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lion passed by there.
28:9 He puts forth his hand on the flinty rock, and he overturns the mountains by the roots.
28:10 He cuts out channels among the rocks. His eye sees every precious thing.
28:11 He binds the streams that they don’t trickle. The thing that is hidden he brings forth to light.
28:12 “But where shall wisdom be found? Where is the place of understanding?
28:13 Man doesn’t know its price; Neither is it found in the land of the living.
28:14 The deep says, ‘It isn’t in me.’ The sea says, ‘It isn’t with me.’
28:15 It can’t be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for its price.
28:16 It can’t be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
28:17 Gold and glass can’t equal it, neither shall it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
28:18 No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal. Yes, the price of wisdom is above rubies.
28:19 The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, Neither shall it be valued with pure gold.
28:20 Where then does wisdom come from? Where is the place of understanding?
28:21 Seeing it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the birds of the sky.
28:22 Destruction and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’
28:23 “God understands its way, and he knows its place.
28:24 For he looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole sky.
28:25 He establishes the force of the wind. Yes, he measures out the waters by measure.
28:26 When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder;
28:27 then he saw it, and declared it. He established it, yes, and searched it out.
28:28 To man he said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.’”
29:1 Job again took up his parable, and said,
29:2 “Oh that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me;
29:3 when his lamp shone on my head, and by his light I walked through darkness,
29:4 as I was in the ripeness of my days, when the friendship of God was in my tent,
29:5 when the Almighty was yet with me, and my children were around me,
29:6 when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out streams of oil for me,
29:7 when I went forth to the city gate, when I prepared my seat in the street.
29:8 The young men saw me and hid themselves. The aged rose up and stood.
29:9 The princes refrained from talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.
29:10 The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
29:11 For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it commended me:
29:12 Because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless also, who had none to help him,
29:13 the blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
29:14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice was as a robe and a diadem.
29:15 I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame.
29:16 I was a father to the needy. The cause of him who I didn’t know, I searched out.
29:17 I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, and plucked the prey out of his teeth.
29:18 Then I said, ‘I shall die in my own house, I shall number my days as the sand.
29:19 My root is spread out to the waters. The dew lies all night on my branch.
29:20 My glory is fresh in me. My bow is renewed in my hand.’
29:21 “Men listened to me, waited, and kept silence for my counsel.
29:22 After my words they didn’t speak again. My speech fell on them.
29:23 They waited for me as for the rain. Their mouths drank as with the spring rain.
29:24 I smiled on them when they had no confidence. They didn’t reject the light of my face.
29:25 I chose out their way, and sat as chief. I lived as a king in the army, as one who comforts the mourners.