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Job Replies: God’s Majesty Is Unsearchable

26Then Job answered:
² ‘How you have helped one who has no power!
   How you have assisted the arm that has no strength!
³ How you have counselled one who has no wisdom,
   and given much good advice!
⁴ With whose help have you uttered words,
   and whose spirit has come forth from you?
⁵ The shades below tremble,
   the waters and their inhabitants.
⁶ Sheol is naked before God,
   and Abaddon has no covering.
⁷ He stretches out Zaphon^* over the void,
   and hangs the earth upon nothing.
⁸ He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,
   and the cloud is not torn open by them.
⁹ He covers the face of the full moon,
   and spreads over it his cloud.
¹⁰ He has described a circle on the face of the waters,
   at the boundary between light and darkness.
¹¹ The pillars of heaven tremble,
   and are astounded at his rebuke.
¹² By his power he stilled the Sea;
   by his understanding he struck down Rahab.
¹³ By his wind the heavens were made fair;
   his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
¹⁴ These are indeed but the outskirts of his ways;
   and how small a whisper do we hear of him!
   But the thunder of his power who can understand?’

Job Maintains His Integrity

27Job again took up his discourse and said:
² ‘As God lives, who has taken away my right,
   and the Almighty,^* who has made my soul bitter,
³ as long as my breath is in me
   and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,
⁴ my lips will not speak falsehood,
   and my tongue will not utter deceit.
⁵ Far be it from me to say that you are right;
   until I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
⁶ I hold fast my righteousness, and will not let it go;
   my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

⁷ ‘May my enemy be like the wicked,
   and may my opponent be like the unrighteous.
⁸ For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts them off,
   when God takes away their lives?
⁹ Will God hear their cry
   when trouble comes upon them?
¹⁰ Will they take delight in the Almighty?^*
   Will they call upon God at all times?
¹¹ I will teach you concerning the hand of God;
   that which is with the Almighty^* I will not conceal.
¹² All of you have seen it yourselves;
   why then have you become altogether vain?

¹³ ‘This is the portion of the wicked with God,
   and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:^*
14 If their children are multiplied, it is for the sword;
   and their offspring have not enough to eat.
¹⁵ Those who survive them the pestilence buries,
   and their widows make no lamentation.
¹⁶ Though they heap up silver like dust,
   and pile up clothing like clay—
¹⁷ they may pile it up, but the just will wear it,
   and the innocent will divide the silver.
¹⁸ They build their houses like nests,
   like booths made by sentinels of the vineyard.
¹⁹ They go to bed with wealth, but will do so no more;
   they open their eyes, and it is gone.
²⁰ Terrors overtake them like a flood;
   in the night a whirlwind carries them off.
²¹ The east wind lifts them up and they are gone;
   it sweeps them out of their place.
²² It^* hurls at them without pity;
   they flee from its^* power in headlong flight.
²³ It^* claps its^* hands at them,
   and hisses at them from its^* place.

Interlude: Where Wisdom Is Found

28‘Surely there is a mine for silver,
   and a place for gold to be refined.
² Iron is taken out of the earth,
   and copper is smelted from ore.
³ Miners put^* an end to darkness,
   and search out to the farthest bound
   the ore in gloom and deep darkness.
⁴ They open shafts in a valley away from human habitation;
   they are forgotten by travellers,
   they sway suspended, remote from people.
⁵ As for the earth, out of it comes bread;
   but underneath it is turned up as by fire.
⁶ Its stones are the place of sapphires,^*
   and its dust contains gold.

⁷ ‘That path no bird of prey knows,
   and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.
⁸ The proud wild animals have not trodden it;
   the lion has not passed over it.

⁹ ‘They put their hand to the flinty rock,
   and overturn mountains by the roots.
¹⁰ They cut out channels in the rocks,
   and their eyes see every precious thing.
¹¹ The sources of the rivers they probe;^*
   hidden things they bring to light.

¹² ‘But where shall wisdom be found?
   And where is the place of understanding?
¹³ Mortals do not know the way to it,^*
   and it is not found in the land of the living.
¹⁴ The deep says, “It is not in me”,
   and the sea says, “It is not with me.”
¹⁵ It cannot be bought for gold,
   and silver cannot be weighed out as its price.
¹⁶ It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
   in precious onyx or sapphire.^*
17 Gold and glass cannot equal it,
   nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
¹⁸ No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
   the price of wisdom is above pearls.
¹⁹ The chrysolite of Ethiopia^* cannot compare with it,
   nor can it be valued in pure gold.

²⁰ ‘Where then does wisdom come from?
   And where is the place of understanding?
²¹ It is hidden from the eyes of all living,
   and concealed from the birds of the air.
²² Abaddon and Death say,
   “We have heard a rumour of it with our ears.”

²³ ‘God understands the way to it,
   and he knows its place.
²⁴ For he looks to the ends of the earth,
   and sees everything under the heavens.
²⁵ When he gave to the wind its weight,
   and apportioned out the waters by measure;
²⁶ when he made a decree for the rain,
   and a way for the thunderbolt;
²⁷ then he saw it and declared it;
   he established it, and searched it out.
²⁸ And he said to humankind,
“Truly, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
   and to depart from evil is understanding.” ’

Job Finishes His Defence

29Job again took up his discourse and said:
² ‘O that I were as in the months of old,
   as in the days when God watched over me;
³ when his lamp shone over my head,
   and by his light I walked through darkness;
⁴ when I was in my prime,
   when the friendship of God was upon my tent;
⁵ when the Almighty^* was still with me,
   when my children were around me;
⁶ when my steps were washed with milk,
   and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
⁷ When I went out to the gate of the city,
   when I took my seat in the square,
⁸ the young men saw me and withdrew,
   and the aged rose up and stood;
⁹ the nobles refrained from talking,
   and laid their hands on their mouths;
¹⁰ the voices of princes were hushed,
   and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.
¹¹ When the ear heard, it commended me,
   and when the eye saw, it approved;
¹² because I delivered the poor who cried,
   and the orphan who had no helper.
¹³ The blessing of the wretched came upon me,
   and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
¹⁴ I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
   my justice was like a robe and a turban.
¹⁵ I was eyes to the blind,
   and feet to the lame.
¹⁶ I was a father to the needy,
   and I championed the cause of the stranger.
¹⁷ I broke the fangs of the unrighteous,
   and made them drop their prey from their teeth.
¹⁸ Then I thought, “I shall die in my nest,
   and I shall multiply my days like the phoenix;^*
19 my roots spread out to the waters,
   with the dew all night on my branches;
²⁰ my glory was fresh with me,
   and my bow ever new in my hand.”

²¹ ‘They listened to me, and waited,
   and kept silence for my counsel.
²² After I spoke they did not speak again,
   and my word dropped upon them like dew.^*
23 They waited for me as for the rain;
   they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
²⁴ I smiled on them when they had no confidence;
   and the light of my countenance they did not extinguish.^*
25 I chose their way, and sat as chief,
   and I lived like a king among his troops,
   like one who comforts mourners.