The Daily Audio Bible
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Interlude: Where Wisdom Is Found
28 “Surely there is a mine for silver
and a place for gold to be refined.
2 Iron is taken out of the earth,
and copper is smelted from ore.(A)
3 Miners put[a] an end to darkness
and search out to the farthest bound
the ore in gloom and deep darkness.
4 They open shafts in a valley away from human habitation;
they are forgotten by travelers;
they sway suspended, remote from people.
5 As for the earth, out of it comes bread,
but underneath it is turned up as by fire.(B)
6 Its stones are the place of sapphires,[b]
and its dust contains gold.
7 “That path no bird of prey knows,
and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.
8 The proud wild animals have not trodden it;
the lion has not passed over it.
9 “They put their hand to the flinty rock
and overturn mountains by the roots.(C)
10 They cut out channels in the rocks,
and their eyes see every precious thing.
11 The sources of the rivers they probe;[c]
hidden things they bring to light.
12 “But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?(D)
13 Mortals do not know the way to it,[d]
and it is not found in the land of the living.(E)
14 The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15 It cannot be gotten for gold,
and silver cannot be weighed out as its price.
16 It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
in precious onyx or sapphire.[e]
17 Gold and glass cannot equal it,
nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.(F)
18 No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
the price of wisdom is above pearls.(G)
19 The chrysolite of Cush cannot compare with it,
nor can it be valued in pure gold.(H)
20 “Where then does wisdom come from?
And where is the place of understanding?(I)
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.’(J)
23 “God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place.(K)
24 For he looks to the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.(L)
25 When he gave to the wind its weight
and apportioned out the waters by measure,(M)
26 when he made a decree for the rain,
and a way for the thunderbolt,(N)
27 then he saw it and declared it;
he established it and searched it out.
28 And he said to humankind,
‘Truly, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
and to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”(O)
Job Finishes His Defense
29 Job again took up his discourse and said:(P)
2 “O that I were as in the months of old,
as in the days when God watched over me,(Q)
3 when his lamp shone over my head,
and by his light I walked through darkness,(R)
4 when I was in my prime,
when the friendship of God was upon my tent,(S)
5 when the Almighty[f] was still with me,
when my children were around me,
6 when my steps were washed with milk
and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!(T)
7 When I went out to the gate of the city,
when I took my seat in the square,
8 the young men saw me and withdrew,
and the aged rose up and stood;
9 the nobles refrained from talking
and laid their hands on their mouths;(U)
10 the voices of princes were hushed,
and their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths.(V)
11 When the ear heard, it commended me,
and when the eye saw, it approved,
12 because I delivered the poor who cried
and the orphan who had no helper.(W)
13 The blessing of the wretched came upon me,
and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.(X)
14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and a turban.(Y)
15 I was eyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.
16 I was a father to the needy,
and I championed the cause of the stranger.(Z)
17 I broke the fangs of the unrighteous
and made them drop their prey from their teeth.(AA)
18 Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest,
and I shall multiply my days like the phoenix;[g](AB)
19 my roots spread out to the waters,
with the dew all night on my branches;(AC)
20 my glory was fresh with me
and my bow ever new in my hand.’(AD)
21 “They listened to me and waited
and kept silence for my counsel.(AE)
22 After I spoke they did not speak again,
and my word dropped upon them like dew.[h](AF)
23 They waited for me as for the rain;
they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
24 I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
and the light of my countenance they did not extinguish.[i]
25 I chose what they should do and sat as chief,
and I lived like a king among his troops,
like one who comforts mourners.(AG)
30 “But now they make sport of me,
those who are younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to set with the dogs of my flock.(AH)
2 What could I gain from the strength of their hands?
All their vigor is gone.
3 Through want and hard hunger
they gnaw the dry and desolate ground;
4 they pick mallow and the leaves of bushes
and to warm themselves the roots of broom.
5 They are driven out from society;
people shout after them as after a thief.
6 In the gullies of wadis they must live,
in holes in the ground and in the rocks.
7 Among the bushes they bray;
under the nettles they huddle together.
8 A senseless, disreputable brood,
they have been whipped out of the land.
9 “And now they mock me in song;
I am a byword to them.(AI)
10 They abhor me; they keep aloof from me;
they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.(AJ)
11 Because God has loosed my bowstring and humbled me,
they have cast off restraint in my presence.(AK)
12 On my right hand the rabble rise up;
they send me sprawling
and build roads for my ruin.(AL)
13 They break up my path;
they promote my calamity;
no one restrains[j] them.
14 As through a wide breach they come;
amid the crash they roll on.
15 Terrors are turned upon me;
my honor is pursued as by the wind,
and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.(AM)
16 “And now my soul is poured out within me;
days of affliction have taken hold of me.(AN)
17 The night racks my bones,
and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
18 With violence he seizes my garment;[k]
he grasps me by[l] the collar of my tunic.
19 He has cast me into the mire,
and I have become like dust and ashes.(AO)
20 I cry to you, and you do not answer me;
I stand, and you merely look at me.(AP)
21 You have turned cruel to me;
with the might of your hand you persecute me.(AQ)
22 You lift me up on the wind, you make me ride on it,
and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.(AR)
23 I know that you will bring me to death,
to the house appointed for all living.(AS)
24 “Surely one does not turn against the needy,[m]
when in disaster they cry for help.[n](AT)
25 Did I not weep for those whose day was hard?
Was not my soul grieved for the poor?(AU)
26 But when I looked for good, evil came,
and when I waited for light, darkness came.(AV)
27 My inward parts are in turmoil and are never still;
days of affliction come to meet me.
28 I go about in sunless gloom;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.(AW)
29 I am a brother of jackals
and a companion of ostriches.(AX)
30 My skin turns black and falls from me,
and my bones burn with heat.(AY)
31 My lyre is turned to mourning
and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.(AZ)
Paul’s Anxiety in Troas
12 When I came to Troas to proclaim the good news[a] of Christ, a door was opened for me in the Lord,(A) 13 but my mind could not rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said farewell to them and went on to Macedonia.
14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him.[b] 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing:(B) 16 to the one group a fragrance from death[c] to death, to the other a fragrance from life[d] to life. Who is qualified for these things?(C) 17 For we are not peddlers of God’s word like so many,[e] but as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God, we are speaking in Christ before God.(D)
Book II
(Psalms 42–72)
Psalm 42
Longing for God and His Help in Distress
To the leader. A Maskil of the Korahites.
1 As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.(A)
2 My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
the face of God?(B)
3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me continually,
“Where is your God?”(C)
4 These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I went with the throng[a]
and led them in procession to the house of God,
with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
a multitude keeping festival.(D)
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise him,
my help(E) 6 and my God.
My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep
at the thunder of your torrents;
all your waves and your billows
have gone over me.(F)
8 By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.(G)
9 I say to God, my rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mournfully
because the enemy oppresses me?”(H)
10 As with a deadly wound in my body,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me continually,
“Where is your God?”(I)
11 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.(J)
7 The rich rule over the poor,
and the borrower is the slave of the lender.(A)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.