Job 28-29

English Standard Version

Job Continues: Where Is Wisdom?

28 “Surely there is a mine for silver,
    and a place for gold that they ^(A)refine.
²Iron is taken out of the earth,
    and copper is smelted from the ore.
³Man puts an end to darkness
    and searches out to the farthest limit
    the ore in ^(B)gloom and ^(C)deep darkness.
⁴He 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.
⁵As for the earth, ^(D)out of it comes bread,
    but underneath it is turned up as by fire.
⁶Its stones are the place of ^(E)sapphires,^[a]
    and it has dust of gold.

⁷“That path no bird of prey knows,
and the falcon's eye has not seen it.
⁸^(F)The proud beasts have not trodden it;
^(G)the lion has not passed over it.

⁹“Man puts his hand to ^(H)the flinty rock
    and overturns mountains by the roots.
¹⁰He cuts out channels in the rocks,
    and his eye sees every precious thing.
¹¹He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle,
    and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.

¹²^(I)“But where shall wisdom be found?
    And where is the place of understanding?
¹³Man does not know its worth,
    and it is not found in ^(J)the land of the living.
¹⁴^(K)The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
    and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
¹⁵It ^(L)cannot be bought for gold,
    and silver cannot be weighed as its price.
¹⁶It cannot be valued in ^(M)the gold of ^(N)Ophir,
    in precious ^(O)onyx or ^(P)sapphire.
¹⁷Gold and glass cannot equal it,
    nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
¹⁸No mention shall be made of ^(Q)coral or of crystal;
    the price of wisdom is above ^(R)^(S)pearls.
¹⁹^(T)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?
²¹It is hidden from the eyes of ^(U)all living
    and concealed from the birds of the air.
²²^(V)Abaddon and Death say,
    ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

²³^(W)“God understands the way to it,
    and he knows its place.
²⁴For he ^(X)looks to the ends of the earth
    and sees everything under the heavens.
²⁵When he ^(Y)gave to the wind its weight
    and apportioned the waters by measure,
²⁶when he made a decree for the rain
    and ^(Z)a way for the lightning of the thunder,
²⁷then he saw it and declared it;
    he established it, and searched it out.
²⁸And he said to man,
‘Behold, ^(AA)the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
    and to ^(AB)turn away from evil is understanding.’”

Job's Summary Defense

29 And Job again ^(AC)took up his discourse, and said:

²“Oh, that I were as in the months of old,
    as in the days when God watched over me,
³when his ^(AD)lamp shone upon my head,
    and by his light I walked through darkness,
⁴as I was in my prime,^[b]
    when the ^(AE)friendship of God was upon my tent,
⁵when the Almighty was yet with me,
    when my ^(AF)children were all around me,
⁶when my steps were ^(AG)washed with ^(AH)butter,
    and ^(AI)the rock poured out for me streams of ^(AJ)oil!
⁷When I went out to ^(AK)the gate of the city,
    when I prepared my seat in the square,
⁸the young men saw me and withdrew,
    and the aged rose and stood;
⁹the princes refrained from talking
    and ^(AL)laid their hand on their mouth;
¹⁰the voice of the nobles was hushed,
    and their ^(AM)tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
¹¹When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
    and when the eye saw, it approved,
¹²because I ^(AN)delivered the poor who cried for help,
    and the fatherless who had none to help him.
¹³^(AO)The blessing of him who was ^(AP)about to perish came upon me,
    and I caused ^(AQ)the widow's heart to sing for joy.
¹⁴I ^(AR)put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
    my justice was like a robe and ^(AS)a turban.
¹⁵I was ^(AT)eyes to the blind
    and feet to the lame.
¹⁶I was a father to the needy,
    and I searched out ^(AU)the cause of him whom I did not know.
¹⁷I ^(AV)broke ^(AW)the fangs of the unrighteous
    and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
¹⁸^(AX)Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my ^(AY)nest,
    and I shall multiply my days as ^(AZ)the sand,
¹⁹my ^(BA)roots spread out to ^(BB)the waters,
    with the dew all night on my ^(BC)branches,
²⁰my glory fresh with me,
    and my ^(BD)bow ever ^(BE)new in my hand.’

²¹“Men listened to me and waited
    and kept silence for my counsel.
²²After I spoke they did not speak again,
    and my word ^(BF)dropped upon them.
²³They waited for me as for the rain,
    and they ^(BG)opened their mouths as for the ^(BH)spring rain.
²⁴I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
    and ^(BI)the light of my ^(BJ)face they did not cast down.
²⁵I chose their way and sat as chief,
    and I lived like ^(BK)a king among his troops,
    like one who comforts mourners.

Footnotes

Job 28:6 Or lapis lazuli; also verse 16
Job 29:4 Hebrew my autumn days

Matthew 13:1-30

English Standard Version

The Parable of the Sower

13 That same day Jesus went out of the house ^(A)and sat beside the sea. ²And great crowds gathered about him, ^(B)so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. ³And ^(C)he told them many things in parables, saying: ^(D)“A sower went out to sow. ⁴And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. ⁵Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, ⁶but ^(E)when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, ^(F)they withered away. ⁷Other seeds fell among ^(G)thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. ⁸Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some ^(H)a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ⁹^(I)He who has ears,^[a] let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” ¹¹And he answered them, ^(J)“To you it has been given to know ^(K)the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ¹²^(L)For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, ^(M)even what he has will be taken away. ¹³This is why I speak to them in parables, because ^(N)seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, ^(O)nor do they understand. ¹⁴Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:

^(P)“‘“You will indeed hear but never understand,
    and you will indeed see but never perceive.”
¹⁵For this people's heart has grown dull,
    and with their ears ^(Q)they can barely hear,
    and ^(R)their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes
    and hear with their ears
and ^(S)understand with their heart
    and ^(T)turn, and I would heal them.’

¹⁶But ^(U)blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. ¹⁷^(V)For truly, I say to you, ^(W)many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

The Parable of the Sower Explained

¹⁸^(X)“Hear then the parable of the sower: ¹⁹When anyone hears the word of ^(Y)the kingdom and ^(Z)does not understand it, ^(AA)the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. ²⁰As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately ^(AB)receives it with joy, ²¹yet he has no root in himself, but ^(AC)endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately ^(AD)he falls away.^[b] ²²As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but ^(AE)the cares of ^(AF)the world and ^(AG)the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ²³As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and ^(AH)understands it. He indeed ^(AI)bears fruit and yields, in one case ^(AJ)a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

The Parable of the Weeds

²⁴He put another parable before them, saying, ^(AK)“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, ²⁵but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds^[c] among the wheat and went away. ²⁶So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. ²⁷And the servants^[d] of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ ²⁸He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ ²⁹But he said, ^(AL)‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. ³⁰Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, ^(AM)“Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”