Job 28

28 ¹ Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. ² Iron is taken from the dust, and copper is smelted from the rock. ³ Man sets a boundary to the darkness; he searches to the farthest limit for ore in gloom and deep shadow. ⁴ He sinks a shaft far from where people live, in places where no foot has ever walked; there they dangle and sway, far away from anyone. ⁵ The earth — from it comes food, yet beneath it is turned over as by fire. ⁶ Its stones hold sapphires, and its dust holds gold. ⁷ It is a path no bird of prey knows, one the falcon's eye has never seen. ⁸ The proud beasts have not trodden it, nor has the lion prowled across it. ⁹ Man lays his hand to the flinty rock and overturns mountains at their roots. ¹⁰ He cuts channels through the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing. ¹¹ He holds back the trickling streams, and brings hidden things to light.

¹² But wisdom — where can it be found? And where is the place of understanding? ¹³ Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living. ¹⁴ The deep says, "It is not in me," and the sea says, "It is not with me." ¹⁵ It cannot be bought with the finest gold, nor can its price be weighed out in silver. ¹⁶ It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire. ¹⁷ Gold and crystal cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for vessels of pure gold. ¹⁸ Coral and crystal are not worth mentioning; the price of wisdom is beyond rubies. ¹⁹ The topaz of Cush cannot equal it, nor can it be valued in pure gold.

²⁰ From where, then, does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding? ²¹ It is hidden from the eyes of all the living, concealed even from the birds of the sky. ²² Destruction and Death say, "With our ears we have heard a rumor of it."

²³ God understands the way to it, and he knows its place. ²⁴ For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. ²⁵ When he gave the wind its weight and measured out the waters, ²⁶ when he made a decree for the rain and a path for the thunderbolt, ²⁷ then he saw wisdom and declared it; he established it and searched it out.

²⁸ And he said to humankind, "The fear of the Sovereign Father — that is wisdom, and to turn from evil is understanding."