Job 28

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

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

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

4 He 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.⋮

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

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

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

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

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

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

11 He 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?⋮

13 Man doesn’t know its price, and it isn’t found in the land of the living.⋮

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

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

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

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

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

19 The topaz of Ethiopia will not equal it. It won’t be valued with pure gold.⋮

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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