When the Occupational Outlook Handbook was a print publication, it was the number-one best-seller
of the U.S. Government Printing Office. But surely it did not outsell the
Bible. You may not think of the Bible as a place to read about occupations, but
the next time you pick it up, pay attention to how many times working people
are mentioned there.
For these references, I am particularly fond of the book of
Isaiah. You may think of him as an other-worldly prophet, but he often uses
metaphors that indicate he has observed many people working at their jobs. The
economy of his time was mainly agricultural, and many of his metaphors are
drawn from farming and viniculture, but he also mentions the work of artisans
and other kinds of workers.
Following are some example, drawn from the King James
translation as found on www.kingjamesbibleonline.org.
Besides their interest from a career-awareness perspective, they serve as
excellent examples of how concrete language can be used to make an abstract
point. Some writers assume that when they write about ideas, they should be
using only abstract language. As these examples show, highly specific language,
based on everyday experiences, can contribute to a powerful generalization.
(George Orwell, in his essay Politics and the English Language, uses an example from
Ecclesiastes to make the same point.)
10:15 Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth
therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if
the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff
should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.
18:5 For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the
sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with
pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.
19:8–10 The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast
angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters
shall languish. Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave
networks, shall be confounded. And they shall be broken in the purposes
thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish.
28:27–28 For the fitches [an herb] are not threshed with a
threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin
[another herb, nowadays spelled cumin]; but the fitches are beaten out with a
staff, and the cummin with a rod. Bread corn is bruised; because he will not
ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it
with his horsemen.
29:16 Surely your turning of things upside down shall be
esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He
made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no
understanding?
41:7 So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that
smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the
sodering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.
44:12–13 The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals,
and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms:
yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is
faint. The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he
fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it
after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain
in the house.
46:6 They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in
the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea,
they worship.
47:13 Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators,
stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.
47:15 Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast
laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to
his quarter; none shall save thee.
63:2 Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy
garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?
To those who observe it later this month, I wish you a happy
new year.
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