28:13. Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the land of them that live in delights.
28:14. The depth saith: It is not in me: and the sea saith: It is not with me.
28:15. The finest gold shall not purchase it, neither shall silver be weighed in exchange for it.
28:16. It shall not be compared with the dyed colours of India, or with the most precious stone sardonyx, or the sapphire.
28:17. Gold or crystal cannot equal it, neither shall any vessels of gold be changed for it.
28:18. High and eminent things shall not be mentioned in comparison of it: but wisdom is drawn out of secret places.
28:19. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not be equal to it, neither shall it be compared to the cleanest dyeing.
28:20. Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?
28:21. It is hid from the eyes of all living, and the fowls of the air know it not.
28:22. Destruction and death have said: With our ears we have heard the fame thereof.
28:23. God understandeth the way of it, and he knoweth the place thereof.
28:24. For he beholdeth the ends of the world: and looketh on all things that are under heaven.
28:25. Who made a weight for the winds, and weighed the waters by measure.
28:26. When he gave a law for the rain, and a way for the sounding storms.
28:27. Then he saw it, and declared, and prepared, and searched it.
28:28. And he said to man: Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom: and to depart from evil, is understanding.
Job Chapter 29
Job relates his former happiness, and the respect that all men shewed him.
29:1. Job also added, taking up his parable, and said:
29:2. Who will grant me, that I might be according to the months past, according to the days in which God kept me?
29:3. When his lamp shined over my head, and I walked by his light in darkness?
29:4. As I was in the days of my youth, when God was secretly in my tabernacle?
29:5. When the Almighty was with me: and my servants round about me?
29:6. When I washed my feet with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil?
29:7. When I went out to the gate of the city, and in the street they prepared me a chair?
29:8. The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the old men rose up and stood.
29:9. The princes ceased to speak, and laid the finger on their mouth.
29:10. The rulers held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to their throat.
29:11. The ear that heard me blessed me, and the eye that saw me gave witness to me:
29:12. Because I had delivered the poor man that cried out; and the fatherless, that had no helper.
29:13. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, and I comforted the heart of the widow.
29:14. I was clad with justice: and I clothed myself with my judgment, as with a robe and a diadem.
29:15. I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame.
29:16. I was the father of the poor: and the cause which I knew not, I searched out most diligently.
29:17. I broke the jaws of the wicked man, and out of his teeth I took away the prey.
29:18. And I said: I shall die in my nest, and as a palm tree shall multiply my days.
29:19. My root is opened beside the waters, and dew shall continue in my harvest.
29:20. My glory shall always be renewed, and my bow in my hand shall be repaired.
29:21. They that heard me, waited for my sentence, and being attentive held their peace at my counsel.
29:22. To my words they durst add nothing, and my speech dropped upon them.
29:23. They waited for me as for rain, and they opened their mouth as for a latter shower.
29:24. If at any time I laughed on them, they believed not, and the light of my countenance fell not on earth.
29:25. If I had a mind to go to them, I sat first, and when I sat as a king, with his army standing about him, yet I was a comforter of them that mourned.
Job Chapter 30
Job shews the wonderful change of his temporal estate, from welfare to great calamity.
30:1. But now the younger in time scorn me, whose fathers I would not have set with the dogs of my flock:
But now the younger in time... That is, younger than I am, and as it were obscure, when I was conspicuous and in magnificence; they now look down on me.
30:2. The strength of whose hands was to me as nothing, and they were thought unworthy of life itself.
30:3. Barren with want and hunger, who gnawed in the wilderness, disfigured with calamity and misery.
30:4. And they ate grass, and barks of trees, and the root of junipers was their food.