Daily Bible Reading
Job Chapters 27-31
Job Continues: I Will Maintain My Integrity
Job 27:1 Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,
Job 27:2 As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;
Job 27:3 All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;
Job 27:4 My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.
Job 27:5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
Job 27:6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
Job 27:7 Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.
Job 27:8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?
Job 27:9 Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?
Job 27:10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God?
Job 27:11 I will teach you by the hand of God: that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal.
Job 27:12 Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it; why then are ye thus altogether vain?
Job 27:13 This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty.
Job 27:14 If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
Job 27:15 Those that remain of him shall be buried in death: and his widows shall not weep.
Job 27:16 Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay;
Job 27:17 He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver.
Job 27:18 He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh.
Job 27:19 The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered: he openeth his eyes, and he is not.
Job 27:20 Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night.
Job 27:21 The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out of his place.
Job 27:22 For God shall cast upon him, and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand.
Job 27:23 Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.
Job Continues: Where Is Wisdom?
Job 28:1 Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they fine it.
Job 28:2 Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone.
Job 28:3 He setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all perfection: the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death.
Job 28:4 The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men.
Job 28:5 As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire.
Job 28:6 The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and it hath dust of gold.
Job 28:7 There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture’s eye hath not seen:
Job 28:8 The lion’s whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it.
Job 28:9 He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots.
Job 28:10 He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing.
Job 28:11 He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.
Job 28:12 But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?
Job 28:13 Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.
Job 28:14 The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me.
Job 28:15 It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.
Job 28:16 It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
Job 28:17 The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold.
Job 28:18 No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies.
Job 28:19 The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold.
Job 28:20 Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?
Job 28:21 Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air.
Job 28:22 Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.
Job 28:23 God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof.
Job 28:24 For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven;
Job 28:25 To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure.
Job 28:26 When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder:
Job 28:27 Then did he see it, and declare it; he prepared it, yea, and searched it out.
Job 28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.
Job’s Summary Defense
Job 29:1 Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,
Job 29:2 Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me;
Job 29:3 When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness;
Job 29:4 As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle;
Job 29:5 When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me;
Job 29:6 When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil;
Job 29:7 When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street!
Job 29:8 The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up.
Job 29:9 The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.
Job 29:10 The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
Job 29:11 When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me:
Job 29:12 Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.
Job 29:13 The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
Job 29:14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.
Job 29:15 I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.
Job 29:16 I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.
Job 29:17 And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.
Job 29:18 Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.
Job 29:19 My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch.
Job 29:20 My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my hand.
Job 29:21 Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel.
Job 29:22 After my words they spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them.
Job 29:23 And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.
Job 29:24 If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they cast not down.
Job 29:25 I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth the mourners.
Job 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.
Job 30:2 Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?
Job 30:3 For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
Job 30:4 Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.
Job 30:5 They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;)
Job 30:6 To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.
Job 30:7 Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.
Job 30:8 They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
Job 30:9 And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.
Job 30:10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
Job 30:11 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
Job 30:12 Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
Job 30:13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.
Job 30:14 They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.
Job 30:15 Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
Job 30:16 And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
Job 30:17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.
Job 30:18 By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
Job 30:19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
Job 30:20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.
Job 30:21 Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.
Job 30:22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.
Job 30:23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
Job 30:24 Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.
Job 30:25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?
Job 30:26 When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
Job 30:27 My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.
Job 30:28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
Job 30:29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
Job 30:30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
Job 30:31 My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.
Job’s Final Appeal
Job 31:1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
Job 31:2 For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
Job 31:3 Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?
Job 31:4 Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?
Job 31:5 If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;
Job 31:6 Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.
Job 31:7 If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;
Job 31:8 Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.
Job 31:9 If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door;
Job 31:10 Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.
Job 31:11 For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.
Job 31:12 For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.
Job 31:13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;
Job 31:14 What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
Job 31:15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?
Job 31:16 If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
Job 31:17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;
Job 31:18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother’s womb;)
Job 31:19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;
Job 31:20 If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
Job 31:21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:
Job 31:22 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.
Job 31:23 For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.
Job 31:24 If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;
Job 31:25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;
Job 31:26 If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;
Job 31:27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:
Job 31:28 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.
Job 31:29 If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:
Job 31:30 Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.
Job 31:31 If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.
Job 31:32 The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller.
Job 31:33 If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:
Job 31:34 Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door?
Job 31:35 Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.
Job 31:36 Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me.
Job 31:37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.
Job 31:38 If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;
Job 31:39 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:
Job 31:40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.