Day 8 The Wisdom Books in a Month

Job 39

1 [Say] if thou knowest the time of the bringing forth of the wild goats of the rock, and [if] thou hast marked the calving of the hinds: 2 and [if] thou hast numbered the full months of their being with young, and [if] thou hast relieved their pangs: 3 and hast reared their young without fear; and wilt thou loosen their pangs? 4 Their young will break forth; they will be multiplied with offspring: [their young] will go forth, and will not return to them. 5 And who is he that sent forth the wild ass free? and who loosed his bands? 6 whereas I made his habitation the wilderness, and the salt land his coverts. 7 He laughs to scorn the multitude of the city, and hears not the chiding of the tax-gatherer. 8 He will survey the mountains [as] his pasture, and he seeks after every green thing. 9 And will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or to lie down at thy manger? 10 And wilt thou bind his yoke with thongs, or will he plough furrows for thee in the plain? 11 And dost thou trust him, because his strength is great? and wilt thou commit thy works to him? 12 And wilt thou believe that he will return to thee thy seed, and bring [it] in [to] thy threshing-floor? 13 The peacock has a beautiful wing: if the stork and the ostrich conceive, [it is worthy of notice], 14 for [the ostrich] will leave her eggs in the ground, and warm them on the dust, 15 and has forgotten that the foot will scatter them, and the wild beasts of the field trample them. 16 She has hardened [herself] against her young ones, as though [she bereaved] not herself: she labours in vain without fear. 17 For God has withholden wisdom from her, and not given her a portion in understanding. 18 In her season she will lift herself on high; she will scorn the horse and his rider. 19 Hast thou invested the horse with strength, and clothed his neck with terror? 20 And hast thou clad him in perfect armour, and made his breast glorious with courage? 21 He paws exulting in the plain, and goes forth in strength into the plain. 22 He laughs to scorn a king as he meets him, and will by no means turn back from the sword. 23 The bow and sword resound against him; and [his] rage will swallow up the ground: 24 and he will not believe until the trumpet sounds. 25 And when the trumpet sounds, he says, Aha! and afar off he smells the war with prancing and neighing. 26 And does the hawk remain steady by thy wisdom, having spread out her wings unmoved, looking toward the region of the south? 27 And does the eagle rise at thy command, and the vulture remain sitting over his nest, 28 on a crag of a rock, and in a secret [place]? 29 Thence he seeks food, his eyes observe from far. 30 And his young ones roll themselves in blood, and wherever the carcases may be, immediately they are found.

Job 40

1 And the Lord God answered Job, and said, 2 Will [any one] pervert judgment with the Mighty One? and he that reproves God, let him return it for answer. 3 And Job answered and said to the Lord, 4 Why do I yet plead? being rebuked even while reproving the Lord: hearing such things, whereas I am nothing: and what shall I answer to these [arguments]? I will lay my hand upon my mouth. 5 I have spoken once; but I will not do so a second time. 6 And the Lord yet again answered and spoke to Job out of the cloud, [saying], 7 Nay, gird up now thy loins like a man; and I will ask thee, and do thou answer me. 8 Do not set aside my judgment: and dost thou think that I have dealt with thee in any other way, than that thou mightest appear to be righteous? 9 Hast thou an arm like the Lord's? or dost thou thunder with a voice like his? 10 Assume now a lofty bearing and power; and clothe thyself with glory and honour. 11 And send forth messengers with wrath; and lay low every haughty one. 12 Bring down also the proud man; and consume at once the ungodly. 13 And hide them together in the earth; and fill their faces with shame. 14 [Then] will I confess that thy right hand can save [thee]. 15 But now look at the wild beasts with thee; they eat grass like oxen. 16 Behold now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. 17 He sets up his tail like a cypress; and his nerves are wrapped together. 18 His sides are sides of brass; and his backbone is [as] cast iron. 19 This is the chief of the creation of the Lord; made to be played with by his angels. 20 And when he has gone up to a steep mountain, he causes joy to the quadrupeds in the deep. 21 He lies under trees of every kind, by the papyrus, and reed, and bulrush. 22 And the great trees make a shadow over him with their branches, and [so do] the bushes of the field. 23 If there should be a flood, he will not perceive it; he trusts that Jordan will rush up into his mouth. 24 [Yet one] shall take him in his sight; [one] shall catch [him] with a cord, and pierce his nose. 25 But wilt thou catch the serpent with a hook, and put a halter about his nose? 26 Or wilt thou fasten a ring in his nostril, and bore his lip with a clasp? 27 Will he address thee with a petition? softly, with the voice of a suppliant? 28 And will he make a covenant with thee? and wilt thou take him for a perpetual servant? 29 And wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or bind him as a sparrow for a child? 30 And do the nations feed upon him, and the nations of the Phœnicians share him? 31 And all the ships come together would not be able to bear the mere skin of his tail; neither [shall they carry] his head in fishing-vessels. 32 But thou shalt lay thy hand upon him [once], remembering the war that is waged by his mouth; and let it not be done any more.

Job 41

1 Hast thou not seen him? and hast thou not wondered at the things said [of him]? 2 Dost thou not fear because preparation has been made by me? for who is there that resists me? 3 Or who will resist me, and abide, since the whole [world] under heaven is mine? 4 I will not be silent because of him: though because of his power [one] shall pity his antagonist. 5 Who will open the face of his garment? and who can enter within the fold of his breast-plate? 6 Who will open the doors of his face? terror is round about his teeth. 7 His inwards are [as] brazen plates, and the texture of his [skin] as a smyrite stone. 8 One [part] cleaves fast to another, and the air cannot come between them. 9 They will remain united each to the other: they are closely joined, and cannot be separated. 10 At his sneezing a light shines, and his eyes are [as] the appearance of the morning star. 11 Out of his mouth proceed as it were burning lamps, and as it were hearths of fire are cast abroad. 12 Out of his nostrils proceeds smoke of a furnace burning with fire of coals. 13 His breath is [as] live coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth. 14 And power is lodged in his neck, before him destruction runs. 15 The flesh also of his body is joined together: [if one] pours [violence] upon him, he shall not be moved. 16 His heart is firm as a stone, and it stands like an unyielding anvil. 17 And when he turns, [he is] a terror to the four-footed wild beasts which leap upon the earth. 18 If spears should come against him, [men] will effect nothing, [either with] the spear or the breast-plate. 19 For he considers iron as chaff, and brass as rotten wood. 20 The bow of brass shall not wound him, he deems a slinger as grass. 21 Mauls are counted as stubble; and he laughs to scorn the waving of the firebrand. 22 His lair is [formed of] sharp points; and all the gold of the sea under him is as an immense [quantity of] clay. 23 He makes the deep boil like a brazen caldron; and he regards the sea as a pot of ointment, 24 and the lowest part of the deep as a captive: he reckons the deep as [his] range. 25 There is nothing upon the earth like to him, formed to be sported with by my angels. 26 He beholds every high thing: and he is king of all that are in the waters.

Job 42

1 Then Job answered and said to the Lord, 2 I know that thou canst do all things, and nothing is impossible with thee. 3 For who is he that hides counsel from thee? or who keeps back his words, and thinks to hide them from thee? and who will tell me what I knew not, great and wonderful things which I understood not? 4 But hear me, O Lord, that I also may speak: and I will ask thee, and do thou teach me. 5 I have heard the report of thee by the ear before; but now mine eye has seen thee. 6 Wherefore I have counted myself vile, and have fainted: and I esteem myself dust and ashes. 7 And it came to pass after the Lord had spoken all these words to Job, [that] the Lord said to Eliphaz the Thæmanite, Thou hast sinned, and thy two friends: for ye have not said anything true before me, as my servant Job [has]. 8 Now then take seven bullocks, and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and he shall offer a burnt-offering for you. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will only accept him: for but for his sake, I would have destroyed you, for ye have not spoken the truth against my servant Job. 9 So Eliphaz the Thæmanite, and Baldad the Sauchite, and Sophar the Minæan, went and did as the Lord commanded them: and he pardoned their sin for the sake of Job. 10 And the Lord prospered Job: and when he prayed also for his friends, he forgave them [their] sin: and the Lord gave Job twice as much, even the double of what he had before. 11 And all his brethren and his sisters heard all that had happened to him, and they came to him, and [so did] all that had known him from the first: and they ate and drank with him, and comforted him, and wondered at all that the Lord had brought upon him: and each one gave him a lamb, and four drachms' weight of gold, even of unstamped [gold]. 12 And the Lord blessed the latter end of Job, [more] than the beginning: and his cattle were fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, a thousand she-asses of the pastures. 13 And there were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 14 And he called the first, Day, and the second, Casia, and the third, Amalthæa's horn. 15 And there were not found in comparison with the daughters of Job, fairer [women] than they in all the world: and their father gave them an inheritance among their brethren. 16 And Job lived after [his] affliction a hundred and seventy years: and all the years he lived were two hundred and forty: and Job saw his sons and his sons' sons, the fourth generation. 17 And Job died, an old man and full of days: 17a and it is written that he will rise again with those whom the Lord raises up. 17b This man is described in the Syriac book [as] living in the land of Ausis, on the borders of Idumea and Arabia: and his name before was Jobab; 17c and having taken an Arabian wife, he begot a son whose name was Ennon. And he himself was the son of his father Zare, one of the sons of Esau, and of his mother Bosorrha, so that he was the fifth from Abraam. 17d And these were the kings who reigned in Edom, which country he also ruled over: first, Balac, the son of Beor, and the name of his city was Dennaba: but after Balac, Jobab, who is called Job: and after him Asom, who was governor out of the country of Thæman: and after him Adad, the son of Barad, who destroyed Madiam in the plain of Moab; and the name of his city was Gethaim. 17e And [his] friends who came to him were Eliphaz, of the children of Esau, king of the Thæmanites, Baldad sovereign of the Sauchæans, Sophar king of the Minæans.

Proverbs 1

1 The Proverbs of Solomon son of David, who reigned in Israel; 2 to know wisdom and instruction, and to perceive words of understanding; 3 to receive also hard sayings, and to understand true justice, and [how] to direct judgment; 4 that he might give subtlety to the simple, and to the young man discernment and understanding. 5 For by the hearing of these a wise man will be wiser, and the man of understanding will gain direction; 6 and will understand a parable, and a dark speech; the sayings of the wise also, and riddles. 7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and [there is] good understanding to all that practise it: and piety toward God is the beginning of discernment; but the ungodly will set at nought wisdom and instruction. 8 Hear, [my] son, the instruction of thy father, and reject not the rules of thy mother. 9 For thou shalt receive for thine head a crown of graces, and a chain of gold round thy neck. 10 [My] son, let not ungodly men lead thee astray, neither consent thou [to them]. 11 If they should exhort thee, saying, Come with us, partake in blood, and let us unjustly hide the just man in the earth: 12 and let us swallow him alive, as Hades [would], and remove the memorial of him from the earth: 13 let us seize on his valuable property, and let us fill our houses with spoils: 14 but do thou cast in thy lot with us, and let us all provide a common purse, and let us have one pouch: 15 go not in the way with them, but turn aside thy foot from their paths: 17 for nets are not without cause spread for birds. 18 For they that are concerned in murder store up evils for themselves; and the overthrow of transgressors is evil. 19 These are the ways of all that perform lawless deeds; for by ungodliness they destroy their own life. 20 Wisdom sings aloud in passages, and in the broad places speaks boldly. 21 And she makes proclamation on the top of the walls, and sits by the gates of princes; and at the gates of the city boldly says, 22 So long as the simple cleave to justice, they shall not be ashamed: but the foolish being lovers of haughtiness, having become ungodly have hated knowledge, and are become subject to reproofs. 23 Behold, I will bring forth to you the utterance of my breath, and I will instruct you in my speech. 24 Since I called, and ye did not hearken; and I spoke at length, and ye gave no heed; 25 but ye set at nought my counsels, and disregarded my reproofs; 26 therefore I also will laugh at your destruction; and I will rejoice against [you] when ruin comes upon you: 27 yea when dismay suddenly comes upon you, and [your] overthrow shall arrive like a tempest; and when tribulation and distress shall come upon you, or when ruin shall come upon you. 28 For it shall be that when ye call upon me, I will not hearken to you: wicked men shall seek me, but shall not find [me]. 29 For they hated wisdom, and did not choose the word of the Lord: 30 neither would they attend to my counsels, but derided my reproofs. 31 Therefore shall they eat the fruits of their own way, and shall be filled with their own ungodliness. 32 For because they wronged the simple, they shall be slain; and an inquisition shall ruin the ungodly. 33 But he that hearkens to me shall dwell in confidence, and shall rest securely from all evil.