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