Job 28

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