The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday August 28, 2022 (NIV)

⁷ “That path no bird of prey knows,
and the falcon's eye has not seen it.
^8 (F)The proud beasts have not trodden it;
^(G)the lion has not passed over it.

⁹ “Man puts his hand to ^(H)the flinty rock
and overturns mountains by the roots.
¹⁰ He cuts out channels in the rocks,
and his eye sees every precious thing.
¹¹ He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle,
and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.

^12 (I)“But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
¹³ Man does not know its worth,
and it is not found in ^(J)the land of the living.
^14 (K)The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
¹⁵ It ^(L)cannot be bought for gold,
and silver cannot be weighed as its price.
¹⁶ It cannot be valued in ^(M)the gold of ^(N)Ophir,
in precious ^(O)onyx or ^(P)sapphire.
¹⁷ Gold and glass cannot equal it,
nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
¹⁸ No mention shall be made of ^(Q)coral or of crystal;
the price of wisdom is above ^(R)(S)pearls.
^19 (T)The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
nor can it be valued in pure gold.

²⁰ “From where, then, does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?
²¹ It is hidden from the eyes of ^(U)all living
and concealed from the birds of the air.
^22 (V)Abaddon and Death say,
‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

^23 (W)“God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place.
²⁴ For he ^(X)looks to the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
²⁵ When he ^(Y)gave to the wind its weight
and apportioned the waters by measure,
²⁶ when he made a decree for the rain
and ^(Z)a way for the lightning of the thunder,
²⁷ then he saw it and declared it;
he established it, and searched it out.
²⁸ And he said to man,
‘Behold, ^(AA)the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
and to ^(AB)turn away from evil is understanding.’”

² “Oh, that I were as in the months of old,
as in the days when God watched over me,
³ when his ^(AD)lamp shone upon my head,
and by his light I walked through darkness,
⁴ as I was in my prime,^[b]
when the ^(AE)friendship of God was upon my tent,
⁵ when the Almighty was yet with me,
when my ^(AF)children were all around me,
⁶ when my steps were ^(AG)washed with ^(AH)butter,
and ^(AI)the rock poured out for me streams of ^(AJ)oil!
⁷ When I went out to ^(AK)the gate of the city,
when I prepared my seat in the square,
⁸ the young men saw me and withdrew,
and the aged rose and stood;
⁹ the princes refrained from talking
and ^(AL)laid their hand on their mouth;
¹⁰ the voice of the nobles was hushed,
and their ^(AM)tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
¹¹ When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
and when the eye saw, it approved,
¹² because I ^(AN)delivered the poor who cried for help,
and the fatherless who had none to help him.
^13 (AO)The blessing of him who was ^(AP)about to perish came upon me,
and I caused ^(AQ)the widow's heart to sing for joy.
¹⁴ I ^(AR)put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and ^(AS)a turban.
¹⁵ I was ^(AT)eyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.
¹⁶ I was a father to the needy,
and I searched out ^(AU)the cause of him whom I did not know.
¹⁷ I ^(AV)broke ^(AW)the fangs of the unrighteous
and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
^18 (AX)Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my ^(AY)nest,
and I shall multiply my days as ^(AZ)the sand,
¹⁹ my ^(BA)roots spread out to ^(BB)the waters,
with the dew all night on my ^(BC)branches,
²⁰ my glory fresh with me,
and my ^(BD)bow ever ^(BE)new in my hand.’

²¹ “Men listened to me and waited
and kept silence for my counsel.
²² After I spoke they did not speak again,
and my word ^(BF)dropped upon them.
²³ They waited for me as for the rain,
and they ^(BG)opened their mouths as for the ^(BH)spring rain.
²⁴ I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
and ^(BI)the light of my ^(BJ)face they did not cast down.
²⁵ I chose their way and sat as chief,
and I lived like ^(BK)a king among his troops,
like one who comforts mourners.

30 “But now they ^(BL)laugh at me,
men who are ^(BM)younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to set with the dogs of my flock.
² What could I gain from the strength of their hands,
^(BN)men whose ^(BO)vigor is gone?
³ Through want and hard hunger
they ^(BP)gnaw ^(BQ)the dry ground by night in ^(BR)waste and desolation;
⁴ they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes,
and the roots of the broom tree for their food.^[c]
5 (BS)They are driven out from human company;
they shout after them as after a thief.
⁶ In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell,
in holes of the earth and of ^(BT)the rocks.
⁷ Among the bushes they ^(BU)bray;
under ^(BV)the nettles they huddle together.
⁸ A senseless, a nameless brood,
they have been whipped out of the land.

⁹ “And now I have become their ^(BW)song;
I am ^(BX)a byword to them.
¹⁰ They ^(BY)abhor me; they keep aloof from me;
they do not hesitate to ^(BZ)spit at the sight of me.
¹¹ Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me,
they have cast off restraint^[d] in my presence.
¹² On my ^(CA)right hand the rabble rise;
they push away my feet;
they ^(CB)cast up against me their ways of destruction.
¹³ They break up my path;
they promote my ^(CC)calamity;
they need no one to help them.
¹⁴ As through a wide ^(CD)breach they come;
amid the crash they roll on.
^15 (CE)Terrors are turned upon me;
my honor is pursued as by the wind,
and my prosperity has passed away like ^(CF)a cloud.

¹⁶ “And now my soul is ^(CG)poured out within me;
days of affliction have taken hold of me.
^17 (CH)The night ^(CI)racks my bones,
and the pain that ^(CJ)gnaws me takes no rest.
¹⁸ With great force my garment is ^(CK)disfigured;
it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.
¹⁹ God^[e] has cast me into the mire,
and I have become like ^(CL)dust and ashes.
²⁰ I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;
I stand, and you only look at me.
²¹ You have ^(CM)turned cruel to me;
with the might of your hand you ^(CN)persecute me.
^22 (CO)You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it,
and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
^23 (CP)For I know that you will bring me to death
and to the house appointed for ^(CQ)all living.

²⁴ “Yet does not one in a ^(CR)heap of ruins stretch out his hand,
and in his disaster cry for help?^[f]
25 Did not I ^(CS)weep for him whose day was hard?
Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
²⁶ But ^(CT)when I hoped for good, evil came,
and when I waited for light, ^(CU)darkness came.
²⁷ My inward parts are in turmoil and never still;
days of affliction ^(CV)come to meet me.
²⁸ I ^(CW)go about darkened, but not by the sun;
I stand up in ^(CX)the assembly and cry for help.
²⁹ I am a brother of ^(CY)jackals
and a companion of ^(CZ)ostriches.
³⁰ My ^(DA)skin turns black and falls from me,
and my ^(DB)bones burn with heat.
³¹ My ^(DC)lyre is ^(DD)turned to mourning,
and my ^(DE)pipe to the voice of those who weep.

^5 (L)Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you ^(M)in turmoil within me?
^(N)Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation^{[c] 6} and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I ^(O)remember you
^(P)from the land of Jordan and of ^(Q)Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
⁷ Deep calls to deep
at the roar of your waterfalls;
^(R)all your breakers and your ^(S)waves
have gone over me.
⁸ By day the Lord ^(T)commands his steadfast love,
and at ^(U)night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.
⁹ I say to God, ^(V)my rock:
“Why have you forgotten me?
^(W)Why do I go mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?”
¹⁰ As with a deadly wound in my bones,
my adversaries taunt me,
^(X)while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”

^11 (Y)Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.