The Bible, Douay-Rheims Part 321

28:13. Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the land of them that live in delights.

28:14. The depth saith: It is not in me: and the sea saith: It is not with me.

28:15. The finest gold shall not purchase it, neither shall silver be weighed in exchange for it.

28:16. It shall not be compared with the dyed colours of India, or with the most precious stone sardonyx, or the sapphire.

28:17. Gold or crystal cannot equal it, neither shall any vessels of gold be changed for it.

28:18. High and eminent things shall not be mentioned in comparison of it: but wisdom is drawn out of secret places.

28:19. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not be equal to it, neither shall it be compared to the cleanest dyeing.

28:20. Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?

28:21. It is hid from the eyes of all living, and the fowls of the air know it not.

28:22. Destruction and death have said: With our ears we have heard the fame thereof.

28:23. G.o.d understandeth the way of it, and he knoweth the place thereof.

28:24. For he beholdeth the ends of the world: and looketh on all things that are under heaven.

28:25. Who made a weight for the winds, and weighed the waters by measure.

28:26. When he gave a law for the rain, and a way for the sounding storms.

28:27. Then he saw it, and declared, and prepared, and searched it.

28:28. And he said to man: Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom: and to depart from evil, is understanding.

Job Chapter 29

Job relates his former happiness, and the respect that all men shewed him.

29:1. Job also added, taking up his parable, and said:

29:2. Who will grant me, that I might be according to the months past, according to the days in which G.o.d kept me?

29:3. When his lamp s.h.i.+ned over my head, and I walked by his light in darkness?

29:4. As I was in the days of my youth, when G.o.d was secretly in my tabernacle?

29:5. When the Almighty was with me: and my servants round about me?

29:6. When I washed my feet with b.u.t.ter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil?

29:7. When I went out to the gate of the city, and in the street they prepared me a chair?

29:8. The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the old men rose up and stood.

29:9. The princes ceased to speak, and laid the finger on their mouth.

29:10. The rulers held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to their throat.

29:11. The ear that heard me blessed me, and the eye that saw me gave witness to me:

29:12. Because I had delivered the poor man that cried out; and the fatherless, that had no helper.

29:13. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, and I comforted the heart of the widow.

29:14. I was clad with justice: and I clothed myself with my judgment, as with a robe and a diadem.

29:15. I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame.

29:16. I was the father of the poor: and the cause which I knew not, I searched out most diligently.

29:17. I broke the jaws of the wicked man, and out of his teeth I took away the prey.

29:18. And I said: I shall die in my nest, and as a palm tree shall multiply my days.

29:19. My root is opened beside the waters, and dew shall continue in my harvest.

29:20. My glory shall always be renewed, and my bow in my hand shall be repaired.

29:21. They that heard me, waited for my sentence, and being attentive held their peace at my counsel.

29:22. To my words they durst add nothing, and my speech dropped upon them.

29:23. They waited for me as for rain, and they opened their mouth as for a latter shower.

29:24. If at any time I laughed on them, they believed not, and the light of my countenance fell not on earth.

29:25. If I had a mind to go to them, I sat first, and when I sat as a king, with his army standing about him, yet I was a comforter of them that mourned.

Job Chapter 30

Job shews the wonderful change of his temporal estate, from welfare to great calamity.

30:1. But now the younger in time scorn me, whose fathers I would not have set with the dogs of my flock:

But now the younger in time... That is, younger than I am, and as it were obscure, when I was conspicuous and in magnificence; they now look down on me.

30:2. The strength of whose hands was to me as nothing, and they were thought unworthy of life itself.

30:3. Barren with want and hunger, who gnawed in the wilderness, disfigured with calamity and misery.

30:4. And they ate gra.s.s, and barks of trees, and the root of junipers was their food.