One Year Bible

Job 28:1-30:31

Where Can Wisdom Be Found?

1 “ Surely there is a mine for silver

and a place where gold is refined.

2 Iron is taken from the earth,

and copper is smelted from ore.

3 Man puts an end to the darkness;

he probes the farthest recesses

for ore in deepest darkness.

4 Far from human habitation he cuts a shaft

in places forgotten by the foot of man.

Far from men he dangles and sways.

5 Food may come from the earth,

but from below it is transformed as by fire.

6 Its rocks are the source of sapphires,

containing flecks of gold.

7 No bird of prey knows that path;

no falcon’s eye has seen it.

8 Proud beasts have never trodden it;

no lion has ever prowled over it.

9 The miner strikes the flint;

he overturns mountains at their base.

10 He hews out channels in the rocks,

and his eyes spot every treasure.

11 He stops up the sources of the streams

to bring what is hidden to light.

12 But where can wisdom be found,

and where does understanding dwell?

13 No man can know its value,

nor is it found in the land of the living.

14 The ocean depths say, ‘It is not in me,’

while the sea declares, ‘It is not with me.’

15 It cannot be bought with gold,

nor can its price be weighed out in silver.

16 It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,

in precious onyx or sapphire.

17 Neither gold nor crystal can compare to it,

nor jewels of fine gold be exchanged for it.

18 Coral and quartz are unworthy of mention;

the price of wisdom is beyond rubies.

19 Topaz from Cush cannot compare to it,

nor can it be valued in pure gold.

20 From where, then, does wisdom come,

and where does understanding dwell?

21 It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing

and concealed from the birds of the air.

22 Abaddon and Death say,

‘We have heard a rumor about it.’

23 But God understands its way,

and He knows its place.

24 For He looks to the ends of the earth

and sees everything under the heavens.

25 When God fixed the weight of the wind

and measured out the waters,

26 when He set a limit for the rain

and a path for the thunderbolt,

27 then He looked at wisdom and appraised it;

He established it and searched it out.

28 And He said to man, ‘Behold,

the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,

and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

Job’s Former Blessings

1 And Job continued his discourse:

2“How I long for the months gone by,

for the days when God watched over me,

3 when His lamp shone above my head,

and by His light I walked through the darkness,

4 when I was in my prime,

when the friendship of God rested on my tent,

5 when the Almighty was still with me

and my children were around me,

6 when my steps were bathed in cream

and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

7 When I went out to the city gate

and took my seat in the public square,

8 the young men saw me and withdrew,

and the old men rose to their feet.

9 The princes refrained from speaking

and covered their mouths with their hands.

10 The voices of the nobles were hushed,

and their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths.

11 For those who heard me called me blessed,

and those who saw me commended me,

12 because I rescued the poor who cried out

and the fatherless who had no helper.

13 The dying man blessed me,

and I made the widow’s heart sing for joy.

14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;

justice was my robe and my turban.

15 I served as eyes to the blind

and as feet to the lame.

16 I was a father to the needy,

and I took up the case of the stranger.

17 I shattered the fangs of the unjust

and snatched the prey from his teeth.

18 So I thought: ‘I will die in my nest

and multiply my days as the sand.

19 My roots will spread out to the waters,

and the dew will rest nightly on my branches.

20 My glory is ever new within me,

and my bow is renewed in my hand.’

21 Men listened to me with expectation,

waiting silently for my counsel.

22 After my words, they spoke no more;

my speech settled on them like dew.

23 They waited for me as for rain

and drank in my words like spring showers.

24 If I smiled at them, they did not believe it;

the light of my countenance was precious.

25 I chose their course and presided as chief.

So I dwelt as a king among his troops,

as a comforter of the mourners.’’

Job’s Honor Turned to Contempt

1 “ But now they mock me,

men younger than I am,

whose fathers I would have refused

to put with my sheep dogs.

2 What use to me was the strength of their hands,

since their vigor had left them?

3 Gaunt from poverty and hunger,

they gnawed the dry land,

and the desolate wasteland by night.

4 They plucked mallow among the shrubs,

and the roots of the broom tree were their food.

5 They were banished from among men,

shouted at like thieves,

6 so that they lived on the slopes of the wadis,

among the rocks and in holes in the ground.

7 They cried out among the shrubs

and huddled beneath the nettles.

8 A senseless and nameless brood,

they were driven off the land.

9 And now they mock me in song;

I have become a byword among them.

10 They abhor me and keep far from me;

they do not hesitate to spit in my face.

11 Because God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me,

they have cast off restraint in my presence.

12 The rabble arises at my right;

they lay snares for my feet

and build siege ramps against me.

13 They tear up my path;

they profit from my destruction,

with no one to restrain them.

14 They advance as through a wide breach;

through the ruins they keep rolling in.

Job’s Prosperity Becomes Calamity

15 Terrors are turned loose against me;

they drive away my dignity as by the wind,

and my prosperity has passed like a cloud.

16 And now my soul is poured out within me;

days of affliction grip me.

17 Night pierces my bones,

and my gnawing pains never rest.

18 With great force He grasps my garment;

He seizes me by the collar of my tunic.

19 He throws me into the mud,

and I have become like dust and ashes.

20 I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer;

when I stand up, You merely look at me.

21 You have ruthlessly turned on me;

You oppose me with Your strong hand.

22 You snatch me up into the wind

and drive me before it;

You toss me about in the storm.

23 Yes, I know that You will bring me down to death,

to the place appointed for all the living.

24 Yet no one stretches out his hand against a ruined man

when he cries for help in his distress.

25 Have I not wept for those in trouble?

Has my soul not grieved for the needy?

26 But when I hoped for good, evil came;

when I looked for light, darkness fell.

27 I am churning within and cannot rest;

days of affliction confront me.

28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun.

I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

29 I have become a brother of jackals,

a companion of ostriches.

30 My skin grows black and peels,

and my bones burn with fever.

31 My harp is tuned to mourning

and my flute to the sound of weeping.’’

2 Corinthians 2:12-17

Triumph in Christ

12 Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and a door stood open for me in the Lord, 13I had no peace in my spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.

14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us triumphantly as captives in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. 15For we are to God the sweet aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16To the one we are an odor that brings death, to the other a fragrance that brings life. And who is qualified for such a task?

17 For we are not like so many others, who peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as men sent from God.

Psalm 42:1-11

BOOK II

Psalms 42–72

As the Deer Pants for the Water

1 For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah.

As the deer pants for streams of water,

so my soul longs after You, O God.

2 My soul thirsts for God, the living God.

When shall I come and appear in God’s presence?

3 My tears have been my food

both day and night,

while men ask me all day long,

“Where is your God?”

4 These things come to mind as I pour out my soul:

how I walked with the multitude,

leading the festive procession to the house of God

with shouts of joy and praise.

5 Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why the unease within me?

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him

for the salvation of His presence.

6 O my God, my soul despairs within me.

Therefore I remember You

from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon —

even from Mount Mizar.

7 Deep calls to deep

in the roar of Your waterfalls;

all Your breakers and waves

have rolled over me.

8 The Lord decrees His loving devotion by day,

and at night His song is with me

as a prayer to the God of my life.

9 I say to God my Rock,

“Why have You forgotten me?

Why must I walk in sorrow

because of the enemy’s oppression?”

10 Like the crushing of my bones,

my enemies taunt me,

while they say to me all day long,

“Where is your God?”

11 Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why the unease within me?

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him,

my Savior and my God.

Proverbs 22:7

7 The rich rule over the poor,

and the borrower is slave to the lender.

sozo church

One Year Bible

Job 28:1-30:31

2 Corinthians 2:12-17

Psalm 42:1-11

Proverbs 22:7