Reading 26 – Job’s Final Speech Part I (Job 26:1-29:25)
Summary
Job gets sarcastic. (26:1-4)
Even the outer fringes of God’s power amaze me. (26:5-14)
I still refuse give up righteousness! (27:1-6)
May God go after the truly wicked! (27:7-23)
Wisdom is the ultimate treasure. (28:1-19)
God is the only source of wisdom. (28:20-28)
If only I could recover God’s blessing. (29:1-10)
I did my best to be a tzaddik. (29:11-20)
I had a good reputation. (29:21-25)
Text
Job gets sarcastic. (26:1-4)
26:1 Then Job replied:
26:2 “How you have helped the powerless!
How you have saved the person who has no strength!
26:3 How you have advised the one without wisdom,
and abundantly revealed your insight!
26:4 To whom did you utter these words?
And whose spirit has come forth from your mouth?
Even the outer fringes of God’s power amaze me. (26:5-14)
26:5 “The dead tremble –
those beneath the waters
and all that live in them.
the place of destruction lies uncovered.
he suspends the earth on nothing.
26:8 He locks the waters in his clouds,
and the clouds do not burst with the weight of them.
26:9 He conceals the face of the full moon,
shrouding it with his clouds.
26:10 He marks out the horizon on the surface of the waters
as a boundary between light and darkness.
26:11 The pillars of the heavens tremble
and are amazed at his rebuke.
26:12 By his power he stills the sea;
by his wisdom he cut Rahab the great sea monster to pieces.
26:13 By his breath the skies became fair;
his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
26:14 Indeed, these are but the outer fringes of his ways!
How faint is the whisper we hear of him!
But who can understand the thunder of his power?”
I still refuse give up righteousness! (27:1-6)
27:1 And Job took up his discourse again:
27:2 “As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice,
the Almighty, who has made my life bitter –
27:3 for while my spirit is still in me,
and the breath from God is in my nostrils,
27:4 my lips will not speak wickedness,
and my tongue will whisper no deceit.
27:5 I will never declare that you three are in the right;
until I die, I will not set aside my integrity!
27:6 I will maintain my righteousness
and never let it go;
my conscience will not reproach me
for as long as I live.
May God go after the truly wicked! (27:7-23)
27:7 “May my enemy be like the wicked,
my adversary like the unrighteous.
27:8 For what hope does the godless have when he is cut off,
when God takes away his life?
27:9 Does God listen to his cry
when distress overtakes him?
27:10 Will he find delight in the Almighty?
Will he call out to God at all times?
27:11 I will teach you about the power of God;
What is on the Almighty’s mind I will not conceal.
27:12 If you yourselves have all seen this,
Why in the world do you continue this meaningless talk?
the inheritance that evildoers receive from the Almighty.
27:14 If his children increase – it is for the sword!
His offspring never have enough to eat.
27:15 Those who survive him are buried by the plague,
and their widows do not mourn for them.
27:16 If he piles up silver like dust
and stores up clothing like mounds of clay,
27:17 what he stores up a righteous man will wear,
and an innocent man will inherit his silver.
27:18 The house he builds is as fragile as a moth’s cocoon,
like a hut that a watchman has made.
27:19 He goes to bed wealthy, but will do so no more.
When he opens his eyes, it is all gone.
27:20 Terrors overwhelm him like a flood;
at night a whirlwind carries him off.
27:21 The east wind carries him away, and he is gone;
it sweeps him out of his place.
27:22 It hurls itself against him without pity
as he flees headlong from its power.
27:23 It claps its hands at him in derision
and hisses him away from his place.
Wisdom is the ultimate treasure. (28:1-19)
and a place where gold is refined.
28:2 Iron is taken from the ground,
and rock is poured out as copper.
28:3 Man puts an end to the darkness;
he searches the farthest recesses
for the ore in the deepest darkness.
28:4 Far from where people live he sinks a shaft,
in places travelers have long forgotten,
far from other people he dangles and sways.
28:5 The earth, from which food comes,
is overturned below as though by fire;
28:6 a place whose stones are sapphires
and which contains dust of gold;
28:7 a hidden path no bird of prey knows –
no falcon’s eye has spotted it.
28:8 Proud beasts have not set foot on it,
and no lion has passed along it.
28:9 On the flinty rock man has set to work with his hand;
he has overturned mountains at their bases.
28:10 He has cut out channels through the rocks;
his eyes have spotted every precious thing.
28:11 He has searched the sources of the rivers
and what was hidden he has brought into the light.
28:12 “But wisdom – where can it be found?
Where is the place of understanding?
28:13 Mankind does not know its place;
it cannot be found in the land of the living.
28:14 The deep says, ‘It is not with me.’
And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
28:15 Fine gold cannot be given in exchange for it,
nor can its price be weighed out in silver.
28:16 It cannot be measured out for purchase with the gold of Ophir,
with precious onyx or sapphires.
28:17 Neither gold nor crystal can be compared with it,
nor can a vase of gold match its worth.
28:18 Of coral and jasper no mention will be made;
the price of wisdom is more than pearls.
28:19 The topaz of Cush cannot be compared with it;
it cannot be purchased with pure gold.
God is the only source of wisdom. (28:20-28)
28:20 “But wisdom – where does it come from?
Where is the place of understanding?
28:21 For it has been hidden
from the eyes of every living creature,
and from the birds of the sky it has been concealed.
28:22 Destruction and Death say,
‘With our ears we have heard a rumor about where it can be found.’
28:23 God understands the way to it,
and he alone knows its place.
28:24 For he looks to the ends of the earth
and observes everything under the heavens.
28:25 When he made the force of the wind
and measured the waters with a gauge.
28:26 When he imposed a limit for the rain,
and a path for the thunderstorm,
28:27 then he looked at wisdom and assessed its value;
he established it and examined it closely.
28:28 And he said to mankind,
‘The fear of the Lord – that is wisdom,
and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”
If only I could recover God’s blessing. (29:1-10)
29:1 Then Job continued his speech:
29:2 “O that I could be as I was
in the months now gone,
in the days when God watched over me,
29:3 when he caused his lamp
to shine upon my head,
and by his light I walked through darkness;
29:4 just as I was in my most productive time,
when God’s intimate friendship was experienced in my tent,
29:5 when the Almighty was still with me
and my children were around me;
29:6 when my steps were bathed with butter
and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil!
29:7 When I went out to the city gate
and secured my seat in the public square,
29:8 the young men would see me and step aside,
and the old men would get up and remain standing;
29:9 the chief men refrained from talking
and covered their mouths with their hands;
29:10 the voices of the nobles fell silent,
and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.
29:11 “As soon as the ear heard these things, it blessed me,
and when the eye saw them, it bore witness to me,
29:12 for I rescued the poor who cried out for help,
and the orphan who had no one to assist him;
29:13 the blessing of the dying man descended on me,
and I made the widow’s heart rejoice;
29:14 I put on righteousness and it clothed me,
my just dealing was like a robe and a turban;
29:15 I was eyes for the blind
and feet for the lame;
29:16 I was a father to the needy,
and I investigated the case of the person I did not know;
29:17 I broke the fangs of the wicked,
and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
29:18 “Then I thought, ‘I will die in my own home,
my days as numerous as the grains of sand.
29:19 My roots reach the water,
and the dew lies on my branches all night long.
29:20 My glory will always be fresh in me,
and my bow ever new in my hand.’
I had a good reputation. (29:21-25)
29:21 “People listened to me and waited silently;
they kept silent for my advice.
29:22 After I had spoken, they did not respond;
my words fell on them drop by drop.
29:23 They waited for me as people wait for the rain,
and they opened their mouths
as for the spring rains.
29:24 If I smiled at them, they hardly believed it;
and they did not cause the light of my face to darken.
29:25 I chose the way for them
and sat as their chief;
I lived like a king among his troops;
I was like one who comforts mourners.
posted by Pastor Pauley @ 3:20 PM
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