June 23

Today’s Reading is from Job Chapters 27 to 30.

Job Chapter 27

1 And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

2 “As God lives, who has taken away my right,

    and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,

3 as long as my breath is in me,

    and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,

4 my lips will not speak falsehood,

    and my tongue will not utter deceit.

5 Far be it from me to say that you are right;

    till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.

6 I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go;

    my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

7 “Let my enemy be as the wicked,

    and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.

8 For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off,

    when God takes away his life?

9 Will God hear his cry

    when distress comes upon him?

10 Will he take delight in the Almighty?

    Will he call upon God at all times?

11 I will teach you concerning the hand of God;

    what is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

12 Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves;

    why then have you become altogether vain?

13 “This is the portion of a wicked man with God,

    and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:

14 If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword,

    and his descendants have not enough bread.

15 Those who survive him the pestilence buries,

    and his widows do not weep.

16 Though he heap up silver like dust,

    and pile up clothing like clay,

17 he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it,

    and the innocent will divide the silver.

18 He builds his house like a moth’s,

    like a booth that a watchman makes.

19 He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more;

    he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone.

20 Terrors overtake him like a flood;

    in the night a whirlwind carries him off.

21 The east wind lifts him up and he is gone;

    it sweeps him out of his place.

22 It hurls at him without pity;

    he flees from its power in headlong flight.

23 It claps its hands at him

    and hisses at him from its place.

Job Chapter 28

1 “Surely there is a mine for silver,

    and a place for gold that they refine.

2 Iron is taken out of the earth,

    and copper is smelted from the ore.

3 Man puts an end to darkness

    and searches out to the farthest limit

    the ore in gloom and deep darkness.

4 He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives;

    they are forgotten by travelers;

    they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro.

5 As for the earth, out of it comes bread,

    but underneath it is turned up as by fire.

6 Its stones are the place of sapphires,

    and it has dust of gold.

7 “That path no bird of prey knows,

    and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.

8 The proud beasts have not trodden it;

    the lion has not passed over it.

9 “Man puts his hand to the flinty rock

    and overturns mountains by the roots.

10 He cuts out channels in the rocks,

    and his eye sees every precious thing.

11 He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle,

    and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.

12 “But where shall wisdom be found?

    And where is the place of understanding?

13 Man does not know its worth,

    and it is not found in the land of the living.

14 The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’

    and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’

15 It cannot be bought for gold,

    and silver cannot be weighed as its price.

16 It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,

    in precious onyx or sapphire.

17 Gold and glass cannot equal it,

    nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.

18 No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;

    the price of wisdom is above pearls.

19 The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,

    nor can it be valued in pure gold.

20 “From where, then, does wisdom come?

    And where is the place of understanding?

21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living

    and concealed from the birds of the air.

22 Abaddon and Death say,

    ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

23 “God understands the way to it,

    and he knows its place.

24 For he looks to the ends of the earth

    and sees everything under the heavens.

25 When he gave to the wind its weight

    and apportioned the waters by measure,

26 when he made a decree for the rain

    and a way for the lightning of the thunder,

27 then he saw it and declared it;

    he established it, and searched it out.

28 And he said to man,

‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,

    and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

Job Chapter 29

1 Then Job answered and said:

2 “Truly I know that it is so:

    But how can a man be in the right before God?

3 If one wished to contend with him,

    one could not answer him once in a thousand times.

4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength

    —who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded?—

5 he who removes mountains, and they know it not,

    when he overturns them in his anger,

6 who shakes the earth out of its place,

    and its pillars tremble;

7 who commands the sun, and it does not rise;

    who seals up the stars;

8 who alone stretched out the heavens

    and trampled the waves of the sea;

9 who made the Bear and Orion,

    the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;

10 who does great things beyond searching out,

    and marvelous things beyond number.

11 Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not;

    he moves on, but I do not perceive him.

12 Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back?

    Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

13 “God will not turn back his anger;

    beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab.

14 How then can I answer him,

    choosing my words with him?

15 Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him;

    I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.

16 If I summoned him and he answered me,

    I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.

17 For he crushes me with a tempest

    and multiplies my wounds without cause;

18 he will not let me get my breath,

    but fills me with bitterness.

19 If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty!

    If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?

20 Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me;

    though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.

21 I am blameless; I regard not myself;

    I loathe my life.

22 It is all one; therefore I say,

    ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’

23 When disaster brings sudden death,

    he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.

24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;

    he covers the faces of its judges—

    if it is not he, who then is it?

25 “My days are swifter than a runner;

    they flee away; they see no good.

26 They go by like skiffs of reed,

    like an eagle swooping on the prey.

27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,

    I will put off my sad face, and be of good cheer,’

28 I become afraid of all my suffering,

    for I know you will not hold me innocent.

29 I shall be condemned;

    why then do I labor in vain?

30 If I wash myself with snow

    and cleanse my hands with lye,

31 yet you will plunge me into a pit,

    and my own clothes will abhor me.

32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him,

    that we should come to trial together.

33 There is no arbiter between us,

    who might lay his hand on us both.

34 Let him take his rod away from me,

    and let not dread of him terrify me.

35 Then I would speak without fear of him,

    for I am not so in myself.

Job Chapter 30

1 “I loathe my life;

I will give free utterance to my complaint;

    I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

2 I will say to God, Do not condemn me;

    let me know why you contend against me.

3 Does it seem good to you to oppress,

    to despise the work of your hands

    and favor the designs of the wicked?

4 Have you eyes of flesh?

    Do you see as man sees?

5 Are your days as the days of man,

    or your years as a man’s years,

6 that you seek out my iniquity

    and search for my sin,

7 although you know that I am not guilty,

    and there is none to deliver out of your hand?

8 Your hands fashioned and made me,

    and now you have destroyed me altogether.

9 Remember that you have made me like clay;

    and will you return me to the dust?

10 Did you not pour me out like milk

    and curdle me like cheese?

11 You clothed me with skin and flesh,

    and knit me together with bones and sinews.

12 You have granted me life and steadfast love,

    and your care has preserved my spirit.

13 Yet these things you hid in your heart;

    I know that this was your purpose.

14 If I sin, you watch me

    and do not acquit me of my iniquity.

15 If I am guilty, woe to me!

    If I am in the right, I cannot lift up my head,

for I am filled with disgrace

    and look on my affliction.

16 And were my head lifted up, you would hunt me like a lion

    and again work wonders against me.

17 You renew your witnesses against me

    and increase your vexation toward me;

    you bring fresh troops against me.

18 “Why did you bring me out from the womb?

    Would that I had died before any eye had seen me

19 and were as though I had not been,

    carried from the womb to the grave.

20 Are not my days few?

    Then cease, and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer

21 before I go—and I shall not return—

    to the land of darkness and deep shadow,

22 the land of gloom like thick darkness,

    like deep shadow without any order,

    where light is as thick darkness.”