Job

28 “Indeed, for silver there exists a place to find it

And a place for gold that they refine;+

 2 Iron itself is taken from the very dust+

And [from] stone copper is being poured out.

 3 An end to the darkness he has set;

And to every limit he is searching out+

Stone in the gloom and deep shadow.

 4 He has sunk a shaft far from where [people] reside as aliens,+

Places forgotten far from the foot;

Some of mortal men* have swung down, they have dangled.

 5 As for the earth, out of it food goes forth;+

But underneath it, it has been upturned as if by fire.

 6 Its stones are the place of the sapphire,+

And it has gold dust.

 7 A pathway—no bird of prey+ has known it,

Nor has the eye of a black kite caught sight of it.+

 8 The majestic wild beasts* have not trodden it down solid;

The young lion has not paced over it.

 9 Upon the flint he has thrust out his hand;

He has overthrown mountains from [their] root;

10 Into the rocks he has channeled water-filled galleries,+

And all precious things his eye has seen.

11 The places from which rivers trickled he has dammed up,+

And the concealed thing he brings forth to the light.

12 But wisdom—where can it be found,+

And where, now, is the place of understanding?

13 Mortal man has not come to know its valuation,*+

And it is not found in the land of those living.

14 The watery deep* itself has said,

‘It is not in me!’

The sea too has said, ‘It is not with me!’+

15 Pure gold cannot be given in exchange for it,+

And silver cannot be weighed out as its price.

16 It cannot be paid for with gold* of Oʹphir,+

With the rare onyx stone and the sapphire.

17 Gold* and glass cannot be compared to it,

Nor is any vessel of refined gold an exchange for it.

18 Coral+ and rock crystal themselves will not be mentioned,

But a bagful of wisdom is worth more than [one full of] pearls.+

19 The topaz+ of Cush* cannot be compared to it;

It cannot be paid for even with gold in its purity.

20 But wisdom itself—from where does it come,+

And where, now, is the place of understanding?

21 It has been hidden even from the eyes of everyone alive,+

And from the flying creatures of the heavens it has been concealed.

22 Destruction* and death themselves have said,

‘With our ears we have heard a report of it.’

23 God* is the One who has understood its way,+

And he himself has known its place,

24 For he himself looks to the very ends of the earth;+

Under the whole heavens* he sees,

25 To make a weight for the wind,*+

While he has proportioned the waters themselves by a measure;+

26 When he made for the rain a regulation,+

And a way for the thunderous storm cloud,

27 Then it was that he saw [wisdom]* and proceeded to tell about it;

He prepared it and also searched it through.

28 And he went on to say to man,*

‘Look! The fear of Jehovah*—that is wisdom,+

And to turn away from bad is understanding.’”+