Job 28

¹“Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold which they refine.

²Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted out of the ore.

³Man sets an end to darkness, and searches out, to the furthest bound, the stones of obscurity and of thick darkness.

⁴He breaks open a shaft away from where people live. They are forgotten by the foot. They hang far from men, they swing back and forth.

⁵As for the earth, out of it comes bread; Underneath it is turned up as it were by fire.

⁶Sapphires come from its rocks. It has dust of gold.

⁷That path no bird of prey knows, neither has the falcon’s eye seen it.

⁸The proud animals have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lion passed by there.

⁹He puts his hand on the flinty rock, and he overturns the mountains by the roots.

¹⁰He cuts out channels among the rocks. His eye sees every precious thing.

¹¹He binds the streams that they don’t trickle. The thing that is hidden he brings out to light.

¹²“But where will wisdom be found? Where is the place of understanding?

¹³Man doesn’t know its price; Neither is it found in the land of the living.

¹⁴The deep says, ‘It isn’t in me.’ The sea says, ‘It isn’t with me.’

¹⁵It can’t be gotten for gold, neither will silver be weighed for its price.

¹⁶It can’t be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.

¹⁷Gold and glass can’t equal it, neither will it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.

¹⁸No mention will be made of coral or of crystal. Yes, the price of wisdom is above rubies.

¹⁹The topaz of Ethiopia will not equal it, nor will it be valued with pure gold.

²⁰Where then does wisdom come from? Where is the place of understanding?

²¹Seeing it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the birds of the sky.

²²Destruction and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

²³“God understands its way, and he knows its place.

²⁴For he looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole sky.

²⁵He establishes the force of the wind. Yes, he measures out the waters by measure.

²⁶When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder,

²⁷then he saw it, and declared it. He established it, yes, and searched it out.

²⁸To man he said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.’ ”