13 This is the portion of the wicked man with GOD, The inheritance the terrible shall receive from the

ALMIGHTY.

14 If his children be multiplied, desolation awaits them, And his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.

15 His relicks shall be buried among the dead, But his widows shall not weep.

16 If he heap up silver, as dust,

And as the mud, prepare raiment;

17 Let him prepare, but the just shall put it on, And the silver, the innocent shall inherit.

18 He hath built his house, like the moth,
And like the booth* the watchman maketh.

19 He lieth down a rich man, but he shall not again, He openeth his eyes,-and it is not,†

The booth. Of the boughs of trees to shelter him from the sun, while he is watching in a field of vegetables.

+ It is not. His wealth is gone.

20 Terrors toss him like the waters,

By night the whirlwind steals him :

21 The east wind taketh him up, and he goeth, And it storms him from his place.

22 He hath stricken him, and he pitieth not, From his hand he would flee swiftly.

23 (The people) clap their hands at him, And hiss him from his place,

CHAP, XXVIII.

1 THERE is, for silver, a mine,

And a place for the gold they have refined

2 Iron is taken from the dust,

And the stone poureth out copper:

3 (The miner) feels in the dark,

And all around he seeks

For the stones of darkness,

And the shadow of death:

4 A flood breaks in upon the forgotten inhabitants,* It is drained by the foot, it is removed by man :

5 The earth from beneath produces bread,

And her inward parts are turned over as by fire.

6 Her stones are the place of the sapphire, And it has the dust of gold:

7 The path, no fowl knoweth it,

Nor has the vulture's eye glanced at it;

8 The sons of the fierce have not trodden it, The lion hath not passed over it:

9 Against the hard stone he putteth forth his hand, Overturning the mountains from their roots:

10 In the rocks he scoopeth rivers,

And every shining thing his eye seeth;

11 He stoppeth the oozings of the streams,

And the hidden things he bringeth forth to light:

* A torrent burst forth from the rubbish unexpectedly. † Drained by the foot.-There is a machine now used in Egypt for draining, which is worked by the foot.

12 But wisdom, from whence is she brought? And where is the place of understanding?

13 Man knoweth not her equal,

And she is not to be found in the land of the living:

14 The abyss saith, she is not in me,

And the sea saith, neither with me:

15 Solid gold cannot be given for her,
Nor can silver be weighed for her price;

16 She shall not be placed beside stamped ophir,* The precious onyx, or the sapphire:

17 She shall not be compared with gold and glass,† Nor balanced with vessels of pure gold:

* Stamped ophir.-The method of traffic in the east still is, for the purchaser to bring his commodity and set it beside that which he wishes to purchase; if it is not thought enough, he brings more.

† Glass was very scarce in the time of Job, and of course very valuable. It is supposed to have been first made on the coast of Palestine.

18 Coral and pearls shall not be reckoned,

And wisdom is more attractive than the load-stone:*

19 She shall not be valued with the topaz of Ethiopia, Nor bartered for pure stamped gold.

20 Now wisdom, whence cometh she?
And where is the place of understanding?

21 For she is hidden from the eyes of all living, Even from the birds of heaven is she concealed:

22 Destruction and death say,

With our ears we have heard her fame.

24 For he looketh to the extremities of the earth,

Under the whole heaven he seeth;

25 To prepare the wind by weight,

And regulate the waters by measure.

* The load-stone.-It is a disputed point whether this be intended for the load-stone or not; but I think the meaning of the word, which is turning, can apply to nothing else.