Job 28:1 ←
“Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold which they refine.
Job 28:2 ←
Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted out of the ore.
Job 28:3 ←
Man sets an end to darkness, and searches out, to the furthest bound, the stones of obscurity and of thick darkness.
Job 28:4 ←
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.
Job 28:5 ←
As for the earth, out of it comes bread. Underneath it is turned up as it were by fire.
Job 28:6 ←
Sapphires come from its rocks. It has dust of gold.
Job 28:7 ←
That path no bird of prey knows, neither has the falcon’s eye seen it.
Job 28:8 ←
The proud animals have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lion passed by there.
Job 28:9 ←
He puts his hand on the flinty rock, and he overturns the mountains by the roots.
Job 28:10 ←
He cuts out channels among the rocks. His eye sees every precious thing.
Job 28:11 ←
He binds the streams that they don’t trickle. The thing that is hidden he brings out to light.
Job 28:12 ←
“But where will wisdom be found? Where is the place of understanding?
Job 28:13 ←
Man doesn’t know its price, and it isn’t found in the land of the living.
Job 28:14 ←
The deep says, ‘It isn’t in me.’ The sea says, ‘It isn’t with me.’
Job 28:15 ←
It can’t be gotten for gold, neither will silver be weighed for its price.
Job 28:16 ←
It can’t be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
Job 28:17 ←
Gold and glass can’t equal it, neither will it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
Job 28:18 ←
No mention will be made of coral or of crystal. Yes, the price of wisdom is above rubies.
Job 28:19 ←
The topaz of Ethiopia will not equal it. It won’t be valued with pure gold.
Job 28:20 ←
Where then does wisdom come from? Where is the place of understanding?
Job 28:21 ←
Seeing it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the birds of the sky.
Job 28:22 ←
Destruction and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’
Job 28:23 ←
“God understands its way, and he knows its place.
Job 28:24 ←
For he looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole sky.
Job 28:25 ←
He establishes the force of the wind. Yes, he measures out the waters by measure.
Job 28:26 ←
When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder,
Job 28:27 ←
then he saw it, and declared it. He established it, yes, and searched it out.
Job 28:28 ←
To man he said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.’ ”
Public Domain