Job 19, Job 28 | ESV | STEP | Then Job answered and said :

1 Then Job answered and said:

2 “How long will you torment me
and break me in pieces with words?
3 These ^aten times you have cast reproach upon me;
are you not ashamed to wrong me?
4 And even if it be true that I have erred,
my error remains with myself.
5 If indeed you ^bmagnify yourselves against me
and make my disgrace an argument against me,
6 know then that God has ^cput me in the wrong
and closed his net about me.
7 Behold, I ^dcry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered;
I call for help, but there is no justice.
8 He has ^ewalled up my way, so that I cannot pass,
and he has set darkness upon my paths.
9 He has ^fstripped from me my glory
and taken the ^gcrown from my head.
10 He breaks me down on every side, and I ^ham gone,
and my hope has he pulled up like a tree.
11 He has kindled his wrath against me
and ⁱcounts me as his adversary.
12 His ^jtroops come on together;
they have ^kcast up their siege ramp ^{▼▼Hebrew their way} against me
and encamp around my tent.
13 “He has put my ^mbrothers far from me,
and ⁿthose who knew me are wholly estranged from me.
14 My relatives ^ohave failed me,
my close ^pfriends have forgotten me.
15 The guests ^qin my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger;
I have become a foreigner in their eyes.
16 I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;
I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy.
17 My breath is strange to my ^rwife,
and I am a stench to the children of ^smy own mother.
18 Even young ^tchildren despise me;
when I rise they talk against me.
19 All my ^uintimate friends abhor me,
and those whom I loved have turned against me.
20 My ^vbones stick to my skin and to my flesh,
and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends,
for the hand of God has ^wtouched me!
22 Why do you, like God, ^xpursue me?
Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?
23 “Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were ^yinscribed in a book!
24 Oh that with an iron ^zpen and lead
they were engraved in the rock forever!
25 For I ^aaknow that my ^abRedeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the ^acearth. ^{▼▼Hebrew dust}
26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in ^{▼▼Or without} my flesh I shall ^afsee God,
27 whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not ^aganother.
My heart ^ahfaints within me!
28 If you say, ‘How we will ^aipursue him!’
and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him,’
29 be afraid of the sword,
for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
that you may know there is ^aja judgment.”

Job 28

Job Continues: Where Is Wisdom?

1 “Surely there is a mine for silver,
and a place for gold that they ^akrefine.
2 Iron is taken out of the earth,
and copper is smelted from the ore.
3 Man puts an end to darkness
and searches out to the farthest limit
the ore in ^algloom and ^amdeep darkness.
4 He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives;
they are forgotten by travelers;
they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro.
5 As for the earth, ^anout of it comes bread,
but underneath it is turned up as by fire.
6 Its stones are the place of ^aosapphires, ^{▼▼Or lapis lazuli; also verse 16}
and it has dust of gold.
7 “That path no bird of prey knows,
and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.
8 ^aqThe proud beasts have not trodden it;
^arthe lion has not passed over it.
9 “Man puts his hand to ^asthe flinty rock
and overturns mountains by the roots.
10 He cuts out channels in the rocks,
and his eye sees every precious thing.
11 He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle,
and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.
12 ^at“But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13 Man does not know its worth,
and it is not found in ^authe land of the living.
14 ^avThe deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15 It ^awcannot be bought for gold,
and silver cannot be weighed as its price.
16 It cannot be valued in ^axthe gold of ^ayOphir,
in precious ^azonyx or ^basapphire.
17 Gold and glass cannot equal it,
nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
18 No mention shall be made of ^bbcoral or of crystal;
the price of wisdom is above ^bc, ^bdpearls.
19 ^beThe topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
nor can it be valued in pure gold.
20 “From where, then, does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of ^bfall living
and concealed from the birds of the air.
22 ^bgAbaddon and Death say,
‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’
23 ^bh“God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place.
24 For he ^bilooks to the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
25 When he ^bjgave to the wind its weight
and apportioned the waters by measure,
26 when he made a decree for the rain
and ^bka way for the lightning of the thunder,
27 then he saw it and declared it;
he established it, and searched it out.
28 And he said to man,
‘Behold, ^blthe fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
and to ^bmturn away from evil is understanding.’”