Today's Reading

Job 28-30

Job Chapter 28
1 - Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they fine it.
2 - Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone.
3 - He setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all perfection: the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death.
4 - The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men.
5 - As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire.
6 - The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and it hath dust of gold.
7 - There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen:
8 - The lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it.
9 - He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots.
10 - He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing.
11 - He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.
12 - But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?
13 - Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.
14 - The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me.
15 - It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.
16 - It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
17 - The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold.
18 - No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies.
19 - The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold.
20 - Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?
21 - Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air.
22 - Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.
23 - God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof.
24 - For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven;
25 - To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure.
26 - When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder:
27 - Then did he see it, and declare it; he prepared it, yea, and searched it out.
28 - And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the LORD, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

Job Chapter 29
1 - Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,
2 - Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me;
3 - When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness;
4 - As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle;
5 - When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me;
6 - When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil;
7 - When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street!
8 - The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up.
9 - The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.
10 - The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
11 - When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me:
12 - Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.
13 - The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
14 - I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.
15 - I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.
16 - I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.
17 - And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.
18 - Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.
19 - My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch.
20 - My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my hand.
21 - Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel.
22 - After my words they spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them.
23 - And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.
24 - If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they cast not down.
25 - I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth the mourners.

Job Chapter 30
1 - But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.
2 - Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?
3 - For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
4 - Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.
5 - They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;)
6 - To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.
7 - Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.
8 - They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
9 - And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.
10 - They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
11 - Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
12 - Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
13 - They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.
14 - They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.
15 - Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
16 - And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
17 - My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.
18 - By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
19 - He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
20 - I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.
21 - Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.
22 - Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.
23 - For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
24 - Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.
25 - Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?
26 - When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
27 - My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.
28 - I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
29 - I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
30 - My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
31 - My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.