And prepare raiment as the clay; He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, And the innocent shall divide the silver. He buildeth his house as a moth, And as a booth that the keeper maketh. The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered : He openeth his eyes, and he is not. Terrors take hold on him as waters, A tempest stealeth him away in the night. The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth : And as a storm hurleth him out of his place. For God shall cast upon him, and not spare: He would fain flee out of his hand. Surely there is a vein for the silver, And a place for gold where they fine it. Iron is taken out of the earth, And brass is molten out of the stone. He setteth an end to darkness, And searcheth out all perfection : The stones of darkness, and the shadow of death. The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; Even the waters forgotten of the foot: They are dried up, they are gone away from men. As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: And under it is turned up as it were fire. The stones of it are the place of sapphires : There is a path which no fowl knoweth, He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; He bindeth the floods from overflowing; And the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light. But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof; Neither is it found in the land of the living. The depth saith, It is not in me : And the sea saith, It is not with me. It cannot be gotten for gold, Neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, With the precious onyx, or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it : And the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: For the price of wisdom is above rubies. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, Whence then cometh wisdom? And where is the place of understanding? Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears. God understandeth the way thereof, And he knoweth the place thereof. For he looketh to the ends of the earth, And seeth under the whole heaven; To make the weight for the winds; When he made a decree for the rain, And a way for the lightning of the thunder : Then did he see it, and declare it ; He prepared it, yea, and searched it out. And unto man he said, Behold, The fear of the LORD, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding. MOREOVER JOB continued his parable, and said, Oh that I were as in months past, As in the days when God preserved me; And when by his light I walked through darkness; As I was in the days of my youth, When the secret of God was upon my tabernacle; When the Almighty was yet with me, When my children were about me; And the rock poured me out rivers of oil! |