Job - Chapter 28

Praise of God's Wisdom

¹ "Surely there is a mine for silver, And a place [where] gold is refined.

² Iron is taken from the earth, And copper [is] smelted [from] ore.

³ [Man] puts an end to darkness, And searches every recess For ore in the darkness and the shadow of death.

⁴ He breaks open a shaft away from people; [In places] forgotten by feet They hang far away from men; They swing to and fro.

⁵ [As for] the earth, from it comes bread, But underneath it is turned up as by fire;

⁶ Its stones [are] the source of sapphires, And it contains gold dust.

⁷ [That] path no bird knows, Nor has the falcon's eye seen it.

⁸ The proud lions have not trodden it, Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.

⁹ He puts his hand on the flint; He overturns the mountains at the roots.

¹⁰ He cuts out channels in the rocks, And his eye sees every precious thing.

¹¹ He dams up the streams from trickling; [What is] hidden he brings forth to light.

¹² " But where can wisdom be found? And where [is] the place of understanding?

¹³ Man does not know its value, Nor is it 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 purchased for gold, Nor can silver be weighed [for] its price.

¹⁶ It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, In precious onyx or sapphire.

¹⁷ Neither gold nor crystal can equal it, Nor can it be exchanged for jewelry of fine gold.

¹⁸ No mention shall be made of coral or quartz, For the price of wisdom [is] above rubies.

¹⁹ The topaz of Ethiopia 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 living, And concealed from the birds of the air.

²² Destruction and Death say, 'We have heard a report about 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 heavens,

²⁵ To establish a weight for the wind, And apportion the waters by measure.

²⁶ When He made a law for the rain, And a path for the thunderbolt,

²⁷ Then He saw [wisdom] and declared it; He prepared it, indeed, He searched it out.

²⁸ And to man He said, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that [is] wisdom, And to depart from evil [is] understanding.' "