Study Desk

Job continued his discourse, saying:

As God lives, who has deprived me of justice,^(a) and the Almighty who has made me bitter,^(b)

as long as my breath is still in me and the breath from God remains in my nostrils,^(c)

my lips will not speak unjustly, and my tongue will not utter deceit.

I will never affirm that you are right. I will maintain my integrity^[a](d) until I die.

I will cling to my righteousness and never let it go. My conscience^(e) will not accuse me as long as I live!

May my enemy be like the wicked and my opponent like the unjust.

For what hope does the godless man^(f) have when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?^(g)

Will God hear his cry when distress comes on him?

Will he delight^(h) in the Almighty? Will he call on God at all times?

I will teach you about God's power. I will not conceal what the Almighty has planned.^[b]

All of you have seen this for yourselves, why do you keep up this empty talk?⁽ⁱ⁾

This is a wicked man's lot^(j) from God, the inheritance the ruthless receive from the Almighty.

Even if his children increase, they are destined for the sword; his descendants will never have enough food.

Those who survive him will be buried by the plague, yet their widows will not weep for them.^(k)

Though he piles up silver like dust and heaps up a wardrobe like clay—

he may heap it up, but the righteous will wear it, and the innocent will divide up his silver.^(l)

The house he built is like a moth's cocoon or a booth set up by a watchman.^(m)

He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more; when he opens his eyes, it is gone.

Terrors overtake him like a flood;⁽ⁿ⁾ a storm^(o) wind sweeps him away at night.

An east wind picks him up, and he is gone; it carries him away from his place.

It blasts at him without mercy, while he flees desperately from its grasp.

It claps^(p) its hands at him and scorns him from its place.

Surely there is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined.

Iron is taken from the ground, and copper is smelted from ore.

A miner puts an end to the darkness; he probes^[a] the deepest recesses for ore in the gloomy darkness.

He cuts a shaft far from human habitation, in places unknown to those who walk above ground.^[b] Suspended far away from people, the miners swing back and forth.

Food may come from the earth, but below the surface the earth is transformed as by fire.

Its rocks are a source of sapphire,^[c](a) containing flecks of gold.

No bird of prey knows that path; no falcon's eye has seen it.

Proud beasts have never walked on it; no lion has ever prowled over it.

The miner strikes the flint and transforms the mountains at their foundations.

He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eyes spot every treasure.

He dams up the streams from flowing^[d] so that he may bring to light what is hidden.

But where can wisdom^(b) be found, and where is understanding located?

No man can know its value,^[e] since it cannot be found in the land of the living.

The ocean depths say, "It's not in me," while the sea declares, "I don't have it."^(c)

Gold cannot be exchanged for it, and silver cannot be weighed out for its price.

Wisdom cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,^(d) in precious onyx or sapphire.^[f](e)

Gold and glass do not compare with it, and articles of fine gold cannot be exchanged for it.^(f)

Coral and quartz are not worth mentioning. The price of wisdom is beyond pearls.

Topaz from Cush cannot compare with it, and it cannot be valued in pure gold.

Where then does wisdom come from, and where is understanding located?

It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing and concealed from the birds of the sky.

Abaddon and Death^(g) say, "We have heard news of it with our ears."

But God understands the way to wisdom, and He knows its location.

For He looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.

When God fixed the weight of the wind and limited the water by measure,^(h)

when He established a limit^[g] for the rain⁽ⁱ⁾ and a path for the lightning,

He considered wisdom and evaluated it; He established it and examined it.

He said to mankind, "The fear of the Lord is this: wisdom. And to turn from evil is understanding."^(j)