8 The lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion paffed by it. 9 He putteth forth his hand upon the rock, he overturneth the mountains by the roots. 10 He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye feeth every precious thing. II He bindeth the floods from overflowing: and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light. 12 But where fhall wif dom be found? and where is the place of understanding? 13 Man knoweth not the price thereof neither is it found in the land of the live ing. 14 The depth faith, It is not in me: and the sea faith, It is not with me. 15 It cannot be gotten for gold, neither fhall filver be weighed for the price thereof. 16 It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir; with the precious onyx, or the fapphire. 17 The gold and the cryftal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. 18 No mention fhall above rubies. 19 The topaz of Ethiopia fhall not equal it, neither hall it be valued with pure gold. 20 Whence then cometh wifdom? and where is the place of understanding? 21 Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept clofe from the fowls of the air. 22 Deftruction and death fay, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears. 23 God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof: 24 For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven; 25 To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure. 26 When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder: 27 Then did he fee it, and declare it; he prepared it, yea, and searched it out. 28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding. CHAP. XXIX. made of coral, or of pearls: Med his parable, and Μ for the price of wisdom is faid, T nued 2 Oh, 2 Oh, that I were as in 13 The bleffing of him months paft, as in the days that was ready to perish when God preferved me: came upon me and I caused 3 When his candle fhined the widow's heart to fing for upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness; 4 As I was in the days of my youth, when the fecret of God was upon my tabernacle ; 5 When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me; 6 When I washed my fteps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil; 7 When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the ftreet! & The young men faw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up. 9 The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. 10 The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.. II When the ear heard me, then it bleffed me; and when the eye faw me, it gave witnefs to me: 12 Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherlefs, and him that had none to help him. joy. 14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. 15 I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. 16 I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I fearched out. 17 And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth. 18 Then I faid, I fhall die in my neft, and I shall multiply my days as the fand.. 19 My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch. 20 My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my hand. 21 Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept filence at my counfel. 22 After my words they fpake not again; and my fpeech dropped upon them. 23 And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide, as for the latter rain. 24. If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they me in derition, whose fathers I would have difdained to have fet with the dogs of my flock. 2 Yea, whereto might the ftrength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished? 3 For want and famine they were folitary: fleeing into the wilderness in former time defolate and waste: 4 Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat. 5 They were driven forth from among men: they cried after them as after a thief; 6 To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks. 7 Among the bushes they preyed; under the nettles they were gathered together. 8 They were children of fools, yea, children of bafe men; they were viler than the earth. 9 And now am I their fong, yea, I am their by away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction. 13 They mar my path, they fet forward my calamity, they have no helper. 14 They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the defolation they rolled themselves upon me. 15 Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my foul as the wind: and my welfare paffeth away as cloud. a 16 And now my foul is poured out upon me: the days of affliction have taken hold upon me. 17 My bones are pierced in me in the night feafon : and my finews take no reft. 18 By the great force of my difeafe is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat. 19 He hath caft me into the mire, and I am become. like duft and afhes. 20 I cry unto thee, and T2 thou thou doft not hear me: I mourning, and my organ into ftand up, and thou regardeft the voice of them that weep. me not. 21 Thou art become cruel to me with thy strong hand thou opposeft thyself against me. 22 Thou lifteft me up to the wind; thou caufeft me to ride upon it, and diffolveft my fubftance. 23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living. 24 Howbeit, he will not ftretch out is hand to the grave, though they cry in his deftruction. 25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble; was not my foul grieved for the poor? 26 When I looked for good, then evil came unto me and when I waited for light, there came darkness. 27 My bowels boiled, and refted not the days of affliction prevented me. I CHAP. XXXI. Made a covenant with mine eyes; why then fhould I think upon a maid? 2 For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high? 3 Is not deftruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity? 4 Doth not he fee my ways, and count all my fteps? 5 If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hafted to deceit; 6 Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity. 7 If my ftep hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to my hands; 8 Then let me fow, and let another eat; yea, let my 28 I went mourning with-offspring be rooted out. out the fun: I ftood up, and 9 If mine heart have been I cried in the congrega- deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my tion. 30 My fkin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat. to Then let my wife grind unto another; and let others bow down upon her. II For this is a heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity 31 My harp alfo is turned to 'to be punished by the judges. 10 12 For 12 For it is a fire that confumeth to deftruction, and would root out all mine increase. 13 If I did defpife the cause of my man fervant or of my maid fervant, when they contended with me; 14 What then fhall I do when God rifeth up? and when he vifiteth, what fhall I answer him? 15 Did not he that made me in the womb, make him? `and did not one fashion us in the womb? 16 If I have withheld the poor from their defire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail: 17 Or have eaten my morfel myself alone, and the fatherlefs hath not eaten thereof; 18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb :) 19 If I have feen any perifh for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; 20 If his loins have not bleffed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; 21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherlefs, when I faw my help in the gate: 22 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone. 23 For deftruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure. 24 If I have made gold my hope, or have faid to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence ; 25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much; 26 If I beheld the fun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; 27 And my heart hath been fecretly enticed, or my mouth hath kiffed my hand: 28 This alfo were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I fhould have denied the God that is above. 29 If I rejoiced at the deftruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him: 30 (Neither have I fuffered my mouth to fin by wifhing a curfe to his foul.) 31 If the men of my tabernacle faid not, Oh, that we had of his flefh! we can not be satisfied. 32 The ftranger did not lodge in the ftreet: but I opened my doors to the tra T3 veller, |