Day 6 The Wisdom Books in a Month

Job 28

1 For there is a place for the silver, whence it comes, and a place for the gold, whence it is refined. 2 For iron comes out of the earth, and brass is hewn out like stone. 3 He has set a bound to darkness, and he searches out every limit: a stone [is] darkness, and the shadow of death. 4 There is a cutting off of the torrent by reason of dust: so they that forget the right way are weakened; they are removed from [among] men. 5 [As for] the earth, out of it shall come bread: under it has been turned up as it were fire. 6 Her stones are the place of the sapphire: and [her] dust [supplies] man with gold. 7 [There is] a path, the fowl has not known it, neither has the eye of the vulture seen it: 8 neither have the sons of the proud trodden it, a lion has not passed upon it. 9 He has stretched forth his hand on the sharp [rock], and turned up mountains by the roots: 10 and he has interrupted the whirlpools of rivers, and mine eye has seen every precious thing. 11 And he has laid bare the depths of rivers, and has brought his power to light. 12 But whence has wisdom been discovered? and what is the place of knowledge? 13 A mortal has not known its way, neither indeed has it been discovered among men. 14 The depth said, It is not in me: and the sea said, It is not with me. 15 One shall not give fine gold instead of it, neither shall silver be weighed in exchange for it. 16 Neither shall it be compared with gold of Sophir, with the precious onyx and sapphire. 17 Gold and crystal shall not be equalled to it, neither shall vessels of gold be its exchange. 18 Coral and fine pearl shall not be mentioned: but do thou esteem wisdom above the most precious things. 19 The topaz of Ethiopia shall not be equalled to it; it shall not be compared with pure gold. 20 Whence then is wisdom found? and of what kind is the place of understanding? 21 It has escaped the notice of every man, and has been hidden from the birds of the sky. 22 Destruction and Death said, We have heard the report of it. 23 God has well ordered the way of it, and he knows the place of it. 24 For he surveys the whole [earth] under heaven, knowing the things in the earth: 25 all that he has made; the weight of the winds, the measures of the water. 26 When he made [them], thus he saw and numbered them, and made a way for the pealing of the thunder. 27 Then he saw it, and declared it: he prepared it [and] traced it out. 28 And he said to man, Behold, godliness is wisdom; and to abstain from evil is understanding.

Job 29

1 And Job continued and said in his parable, 2 Oh that I were as in months past, wherein God preserved me! 3 As when his lamp shone over my head; when by his light I walked through darkness. 4 [As] when I steadfastly pursued my ways, when God took care of my house. 5 When I was very fruitful, and my children were about me; 6 when my ways were moistened with butter, and the mountains flowed for me with milk. 7 When I went forth early in the city, and the seat was placed for me in the streets. 8 The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and all the old men stood up. 9 And the great men ceased speaking, and laid their finger on their mouth. 10 And they that heard [me] blessed me, and their tongue clave to their throat. 11 For the ear heard, and blessed me; and the eye saw me, and turned aside. 12 For I saved the poor out of the hand of the oppressor, and helped the fatherless who had no helper. 13 Let the blessing of the perishing one come upon me; yea, the mouth of the widow has blessed me. 14 Also I put on righteousness, and clothed myself with judgment like a mantle. 15 I was the eye of the blind, and the foot of the lame. 16 I was the father of the helpless; and I searched out the cause which I knew not. 17 And I broke the jaw-teeth of the unrighteous; I plucked the spoil out of the midst of their teeth. 18 And I said, My age shall continue as the stem of a palm-tree; I shall live a long while. 19 [My] root was spread out by the water, and the dew would lodge on my crop. 20 My glory was fresh in me, and my bow prospered in his hand. 21 [Men] heard me, and gave heed, and they were silent at my counsel. 22 At my word they spoke not again, and they were very glad whenever I spoke to them. 23 As the thirsty earth expecting the rain, so they [waited for] my speech. 24 Were I to laugh on them, they would not believe [it]; and the light of my face has not failed. 25 I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the midst of warriors, as one comforting mourners.

Job 30

1 But now the youngest have laughed me to scorn, now they reprove me in [their] turn, whose fathers I set at nought; whom I did not deem worthy [to be with] my shepherd dogs. 2 Yea, why had I the strength of their hands? for them the full term [of life] was lost. 3 [One is] childless in want and famine, [such as] they that fled but lately the distress and misery of drought. 4 Who compass the salt places on the sounding [shore], who had salt [herbs] for their food, and were dishonourable and of no repute, in want of every good thing; who also ate roots of trees by reason of great hunger. 5 Thieves have risen up against me, 6 whose houses were the caves of the rocks, who lived under the wild shrubs. 7 They will cry out among the rustling [bushes]. 8 [They are] sons of fools and vile men, [whose] name and glory [are] quenched from off the earth. 9 But now I am their music, and they have me for a by-word. 10 And they stood aloof and abhorred me, and spared not to spit in my face. 11 For he has opened his quiver and afflicted me: they also have cast off the restraint of my presence. 12 They have risen up against [me] on the right hand of [their] offspring; they have stretched out their foot, and directed against me the ways of their destruction. 13 My paths are ruined; for they have stripped off my raiment: he has shot at me with his weapons. 14 And he has pleaded against me as he will: I am overwhelmed with pains. 15 My pains return upon [me]; my hope is gone like the wind, and my safety as a cloud. 16 Even now my life shall be poured forth upon me; and days of anguish seize me. 17 And by night my bones are confounded; and my sinews are relaxed. 18 With great force [my disease] has taken hold of my garment: it has compassed me as the collar of my coat. 19 And thou hast counted me as clay; my portion is in dust and ashes. 20 And I have cried to thee, but thou hearest me not: but they stood still, and observed me. 21 They attacked me also without mercy: thou hast scourged me with a strong hand. 22 And thou hast put me to grief, and hast cast me away from safety. 23 For I know that death will destroy me: for the earth is the house [appointed] for every mortal. 24 Oh then that I might lay hands upon myself, or at least ask another, and he should do this for me. 25 Yet I wept over every helpless man; I groaned when I saw a man in distress. 26 But I, when I waited for good things, behold, days of evils came the more upon me. 27 My belly boiled, and would not cease: the days of poverty prevented me. 28 I went mourning without restraint: and I have stood and cried out in the assembly. 29 I am become a brother of monsters, and a companion of ostriches. 30 And my skin has been greatly blackened, and my bones are burned with heat. 31 My harp also has been turned into mourning, and my song into my weeping.

Job 31

1 I made a covenant with mine eyes, and I will not think upon a virgin. 2 Now what portion has God given from above? and is there an inheritance [given] of the Mighty One from the highest? 3 Alas! destruction to the unrighteous, and rejection to them that do iniquity. 4 Will he not see my way, and number all my steps? 5 But if I had gone with scorners, and if too my foot has hasted to deceit: 6 (for I am weighed in a just balance, and the Lord knows my innocence:) 7 if my foot has turned aside out of the way, or if mine heart has followed mine eye, and if too I have touched gifts with my hands; 8 then let me sow, and let others eat; and let me be uprooted on the earth. 9 If my heart has gone forth after another man's wife, and if I laid wait at her doors; 10 then let my wife also please another, and let my children be brought low. 11 For the rage of anger is not to be controlled, [in the case] of defiling [another] man's wife. 12 For it is a fire burning on every side, and whomsoever it attacks, it utterly destroys. 13 And if too I despised the judgment of my servant or [my] handmaid, when they pleaded with me; 14 what then shall I do if the Lord should try me? and if also he should at all visit me, can I make an answer? 15 Were not they too formed as I also was formed in the womb? yea, we were formed in the same womb. 16 But the helpless missed not whatever need they had, and I did not cause the eye of the widow to fail. 17 And if too I ate my morsel alone, and did not impart [of it] to the orphan; 18 (for I nourished [them] as a father from my youth, and guided [them] from my mother's womb.) 19 And if too I overlooked the naked as he was perishing, and did not clothe him; 20 and if the poor did not bless me, and their shoulders were [not] warmed with the fleece of my lambs; 21 if I lifted my hand against an orphan, trusting that my strength was far superior [to his]: 22 let then my shoulder start from the blade-bone, and my arm be crushed off from the elbow. 23 For the fear of the Lord constrained me, and I cannot bear up by reason of his burden. 24 If I made gold my treasure, and if too I trusted the precious stone; 25 and if too I rejoiced when my wealth was abundant, and if too I laid my hand on innumerable [treasures]: 26 (do we not see the shining sun eclipsed, and the moon waning? for they have not [power to continue]:) 27 and if my heart was secretly deceived, and if I have laid my hand upon my mouth and kissed it: 28 let this also then be reckoned to me as the greatest iniquity: for I [should] have lied against the Lord Most High. 29 And if too I was glad at the fall of mine enemies, and mine heart said, Aha! 30 let then mine ear hear my curse, and let me be a by-word among my people in my affliction. 31 And if too my handmaids have often said, Oh that we might be satisfied with his flesh; (whereas I was very kind: 32 for the stranger did not lodge without, and my door was opened to every one that came:) 33 or if too having sinned unintentionally, I hid my sin; 34 (for I did not stand in awe of a great multitude, so as not to declare boldly before them:) and if too I permitted a poor man to go out of my door with an empty bosom: 35 (Oh that I had a hearer,) and if I had not feared the hand of the Lord; and [as to] the written charge which I had against any one, 36 I would place [it] as a chaplet on my shoulders, and read it. 37 And if I did not read it and return it, having taken nothing from the debtor: 38 If at any time the land groaned against me, and if its furrows mourned together; 39 and if I ate its strength alone without price, and if too I grieved the heart of the owner of the soil, by taking [aught] from [him]: 40 then let the nettle come up to me instead of wheat, and a bramble instead of barley. And Job ceased speaking.

Job 32

1 And his three friends also ceased any longer to answer Job: for Job was righteous before them. 2 Then Elius the son of Barachiel, the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram, of the country of Ausis, was angered: and he was very angry with Job, because he justified himself before the Lord. 3 And he was also very angry with [his] three friends, because they were not able to return answers to Job, yet set him down for an ungodly man. 4 But Elius had forborne to give an answer to Job, because they were older than he. 5 And Elius saw that there was no answer in the mouth of the three men; and he was angered in his wrath. 6 And Elius the Buzite the son of Barachiel answered and said, I am younger in age, and ye are elder; wherefore I kept silence, fearing to declare to you my own knowledge. 7 And I said, It is not time that speaks, though in many years [men] know wisdom: 8 but there is a spirit in mortals; and the inspiration of the Almighty is that which teaches. 9 The long-lived are not wise [as such]; neither do the aged know judgment. 10 Wherefore I said, Hear me, and I will tell you what I know. 11 Hearken to my words; for I will speak in your hearing, until ye shall have tried [the matter] with words: 12 and I shall understand as far as you; and, behold, there was no one of you that answered Job his words in argument, 13 lest ye should say, We have found that we have added wisdom to the Lord. 14 And ye have commissioned a man to speak such words. 15 They were afraid, they answered no longer; they gave up their speaking. 16 I waited, (for I had not spoken,) because they stood still, they answered not. 17 And Elius continued, and said, I will again speak, 18 for I am full of words, for the spirit of my belly destroys me. 19 And my belly is as a skin of sweet wine bound up [and] ready to burst; or as a brazier's labouring bellows. 20 I will speak, that I may open my lips and relieve myself. 21 For truly I will not be awed because of man, nor indeed will I be confounded before a mortal. 22 For I know not how to respect persons: and if otherwise, even the moths would eat me.