26:5. Behold the giants groan under the waters, and they that dwell with them.
26:6. h.e.l.l is naked before him, and there is no covering for destruction.
26:7. He stretched out the north over the empty s.p.a.ce, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.
26:8. He bindeth up the waters in his clouds, so that they break not out and fall down together.
26:9. He withholdeth the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud over it.
26:10. He hath set bounds about the waters, till light and darkness come to an end.
26:11. The pillars of heaven tremble, and dread at his beck.
26:12. By his power the seas are suddenly gathered together, and his wisdom has struck the proud one.
26:13. His spirit hath adorned the heavens, and his obstetric hand brought forth the winding serpent.
His obstetric hand brought forth the winding serpent... That is, the omnipotent power of G.o.d: which brought forth all things created in time, but conceived in the Divine mind from all eternity. The winding serpent, a constellation of fixed stars winding round the north pole, called Draco. This appears from the foregoing part of the same verse, His spirit hath adorned the heavens.
26:14. Lo, these things are said in part of his ways: and seeing we have heard scarce a little drop of his word, who shall be able to behold the thunder of his greatness?
Job Chapter 27
Job persists in a.s.serting his own innocence, and that hypocrites will be punished in the end.
27:1. Job also added, taking up his parable, and said:
27:2. As G.o.d liveth, who hath taken away my judgment, and the Almighty, who hath brought my soul to bitterness,
27:3. As long as breath remaineth in me, and the spirit of G.o.d in my nostrils,
27:4. My lips shall not speak iniquity, neither shall my tongue contrive lying.
27:5. G.o.d forbid that I should judge you to be just: till I die I will not depart from my innocence.
27:6. My justification, which I have begun to hold, I will not forsake: for my heart doth not reprehend me in all my life.
27:7. Let my enemy be as the unG.o.dly, and my adversary as the wicked one.
27:8. For what is the hope of the hypocrite if through covetousness he take by violence, and G.o.d deliver not his soul?
27:9. Will G.o.d hear his cry, when distress shall come upon him?
27:10. Or can he delight himself in the Almighty, and call upon G.o.d at all times?
27:11. I will teach you by the hand of G.o.d, what the Almighty hath, and I will not conceal it.
27:12. Behold you all know it, and why do you speak vain things without cause?
27:13. This is the portion of a wicked man with G.o.d, and the inheritance of the violent, which they shall receive of the Almighty.
27:14. If his sons be multiplied, they shall be for the sword, and his grandsons shall not be filled with bread.
27:15. They that shall remain of him, shall be buried in death, and his widows shall not weep.
27:16. If he shall heap together silver as earth, and prepare raiment as clay,
27:17. He shall prepare indeed, but the just man shall be clothed with it: and the innocent shall divide the silver.
27:18. He hath built his house as a moth, and as a keeper he hath made a booth.
27:19. The rich man when he shall sleep shall take away nothing with him: he shall open his eyes and find nothing.
27:20. Poverty like water shall take hold on him, a tempest shall oppress him in the night:
27:21. A burning wind shall take him up, and carry him away, and as a whirlwind shall s.n.a.t.c.h him from his place.
27:22. And he shall cast upon him, and shall not spare: out of his hand he would willingly flee.
27:23. He shall clasp his hands upon him, and shall hiss at him, beholding his place.
Job Chapter 28
Man"s industry searcheth out many things: true wisdom is taught by G.o.d alone.
28:1. Silver hath beginnings of its veins, and gold hath a place wherein it is melted.
28:2. Iron is taken out of the earth, and stone melted with heat is turned into bra.s.s.
28:3. He hath set a time for darkness, and the end of all things he considereth, the stone also that is in the dark and the shadow of death.
28:4. The flood divideth from the people that are on their journey, those whom the food of the needy man hath forgotten, and who cannot be come at.
28:5. The land, out of which bread grew in its place, hath been overturned with fire.
28:6. The stones of it are the place of sapphires, and the clods of it are gold.
28:7. The bird hath not known the path, neither hath the eye of the vulture beheld it.
28:8. The children of the merchants have not trodden it, neither hath the lioness pa.s.sed by it.
28:9. He hath stretched forth his hand to the flint, he hath overturned mountains from the roots.
28:10. In the rocks he hath cut out rivers, and his eye hath seen every precious thing.
28:11. The depths also of rivers he hath searched, and hidden things he hath brought forth to light.
28:12. But where is wisdom to be found, and where is the place of understanding?