The Bible (Old and New Testaments)

He lieth down rich, but there shall be not to gather; he openeth his eyes, and his wealth is not.

Terrors overtake him like waters; a tempest stealeth him away in the night.

The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth; and it sweepeth him out of his place.

Yea, it hurleth at him, and spareth not; he would fain flee from its power.

Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.

For there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold which they refine.

Iron is taken out of the dust, and brass is molten out of the stone.

Man setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out to the furthest bound the stones of thick darkness and of the shadow of death.

He breaketh open a shaft away from where men sojourn; they are forgotten of the foot that passeth by; they hang afar from men, they swing to and fro.

As for the earth, out of it cometh bread, and underneath it is turned up as it were by fire.

The stones thereof are the place of sapphires, and it hath dust of gold.

That path no bird of prey knoweth, neither hath the falcon's eye seen it;

The proud beasts have not trodden it, nor hath the lion passed thereby.

He putteth forth his hand upon the flinty rock; He overturneth the mountains by the roots.

He cutteth out channels among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing.

He bindeth the streams that they trickle not; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.

But wisdom, where shall it 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 deep 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.

Gold and glass cannot equal it; neither shall the exchange thereof be vessels of fine gold.

No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal; yea, the price of wisdom is above rubies.

The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold.

Whence then cometh wisdom? And where is the place of understanding?

Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air.

Destruction and Death say: 'We have heard a rumor 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;

When He maketh a weight for the wind, and meteth out the waters by measure.

When He made a decree for the rain, and a way for the storm of thunders;

Then did He see it, and declare it; He established 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.'

And Job again took up his parable, and said:

Oh that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me;

When His lamp shined above my head, and by His light I walked through darkness;

As I was in the days of my youth, when the converse of God was upon my tent;

When the Almighty was yet with me, and my children were about me;

When my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil!

When I went forth to the gate unto the city, when I prepared my seat in the broad place,

The young men saw me and hid themselves, and the aged rose up and stood;

The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth;

The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.

For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me, and when the eye saw me, it gave witness unto me;

Because I delivered the poor that cried, the fatherless also, that had none to help him.

The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me; and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

I put on righteousness, and it clothed itself with me; my justice was as a robe and a diadem.

I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.

I was a father to the needy; and the cause of him that I knew not I searched out.

And I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, and plucked the prey out of his teeth.

Then I said: 'I shall die with my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the phoenix;

My root shall be spread out to the waters, and the dew shall lie all night upon my branch;

My glory shall be fresh in me, and my bow shall be renewed in my hand.'

Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence for my counsel.

After my words they spoke not again; and my speech dropped upon them.

And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.

If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they cast not down.

I chose out their way, and sat as chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth the mourners.

But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.

Yea, the strength of their hands, whereto should it profit me? men in whom ripe age is perished.

They are gaunt with want and famine; they gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of wasteness and desolation.

They pluck salt-wort with wormwood; and the roots of the broom are their food.

They are driven forth from the midst of men; they cry after them as after a thief.

In the clefts of the valleys must they dwell, in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they are gathered together.

They are children of churls, yea, children of ignoble men; they were scourged out of the land.

And now I am become their song, yea, I am a byword unto them.

They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.

For He hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, and they have cast off the bridle before me.

Upon my right hand rise the brood; they entangle my feet, and they cast up against me their ways of destruction.

They break up my path, they further my calamity, even men that have no helper.

As through a wide breach they come; in the midst of the ruin they roll themselves upon me.

Terrors are turned upon me, they chase mine honour as the wind; and my welfare is passed away as a cloud.

And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

In the night my bones are pierced, and fall from me, and my sinews take no rest.

By the great force of my disease is my garment disfigured; it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.

He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.

I cry unto Thee, and Thou dost not answer me; I stand up, and Thou lookest at me.

Thou art turned to be cruel to me; with the might of Thy hand Thou hatest me.

Thou liftest me up to the wind, Thou causest me to ride upon it; and Thou dissolvest my substance.

For I know that Thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.

Surely none shall put forth his hand to a ruinous heap, neither because of these things shall help come in one's calamity,

If I have not wept for him that was in trouble, and if my soul grieved not for the needy.

Yet, when I looked for good, there came evil; and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

Mine inwards boil, and rest not; days of affliction are come upon me.

I go mourning without the sun; I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.

I am become a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches.

My skin is black, and falleth from me, and my bones are burned with heat.

Therefore is my harp turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of them that weep.

I made a covenant with mine eyes; how then should I look upon a maid?

For what would be the portion of God from above, and the heritage of the Almighty from on high?

Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster to the workers of iniquity?

Doth not He see my ways, and count all my steps?

If I have walked with vanity, and my foot hath hasted to deceit —

Let me be weighed in a just balance, that God may know mine integrity —

If my step hath turned out of the way, and my heart walked after mine eyes, and if any spot hath cleaved to my hands;

Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let the produce of my field be rooted out.

If my heart have been enticed unto a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbour's door;

Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.

For that were a heinous crime; yea, it were an iniquity to be punished by the judges.