Job 15:7–12

²Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

¹²With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.

⁴Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

⁵Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?

⁶Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;

⁷When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?

⁹When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,

¹⁰And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,

¹¹And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?

¹²Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;

¹³That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?

¹⁴It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.

¹⁵And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.

¹⁶Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?

¹⁷Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?

¹⁸Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all.

¹⁹Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof,

²⁰That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?

²¹Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great?

²²Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,

²³Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?

²⁴By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?

²⁵Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;

²⁶To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;

²⁷To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?

²⁸Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?

²⁹Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?

³⁰The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

³¹Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?

³²Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?

³³Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?

³⁴Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?

³⁵Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?

³⁶Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?

³⁷Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven,

³⁸When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together?

³⁹Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions,

⁴⁰When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait?

⁴¹Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.

²²The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.

²³I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.

²⁴When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.

²⁵Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:

¹AND Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.

¹⁰With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.

³⁴For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counseller?

¹⁸For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?

¹⁶For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

⁹But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

¹⁰But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

¹¹For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

⁷Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

²⁹The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

⁶And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.

²No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.

⁵O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.

⁶Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips.

⁴As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle;

¹⁵Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

²⁵¶ At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.

¹¹He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

³⁵That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.

³²For the froward is abomination to the Lord: but his secret is with the righteous.

¹⁴The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.

²⁵Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,

²⁶But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:

²What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you.

⁵For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.

⁷Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ’s, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ’s, even so are we Christ’s.

²¹I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also.

²²Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.

²³Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.

²⁴Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.

²⁵Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;

²⁶In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

²⁷In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

²⁸Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

²⁹Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?

³⁰If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.

³But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these?

³How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom? and how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is?

⁴To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?

⁶And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old; wherefore I was afraid, and durst not shew you mine opinion.

⁷I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.

¹²With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.

⁸For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers:

⁹(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:)

¹⁰Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?

⁷¶ Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.

²⁰He removeth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged.

³¹The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.

³Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

⁴Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

⁵For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

²What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you.

²⁴But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speak unto thee?

⁶Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus;

¹³If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him;

¹⁴If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles.

¹⁵For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear:

¹⁶Because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away:

¹⁷And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning.

¹⁸And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety.

¹⁹Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; yea, many shall make suit unto thee.

⁸Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?

¹⁶Even so would he have removed thee out of the strait into a broad place, where there is no straitness; and that which should be set on thy table should be full of fatness.

⁸I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:

⁹Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:

¹⁰Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields:

¹¹To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety.

¹²He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.

¹³He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.

¹⁴They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night.

¹⁵But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.

¹⁶So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth.

¹⁷Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:

¹⁸For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.

¹⁹He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.

²⁰In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword.

²¹Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh.

²²At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

²³For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.

²⁴And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin.

²⁵Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth.

²⁶Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season.

²¹For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

²²Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:

¹⁹Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.

³But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

⁴Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

²²Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.

¹⁴But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

¹⁵Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

¹³If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him;

²Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?

¹³He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers;

⁹¶ Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.