Job 28

Job Tells of Earth’s Treasures

¹“Certainly there is a mine for silver[#28:1 Lit source]

And a place for refining gold.

²“Iron is taken from the dust,

And copper is smelted from rock.

³“Man puts an end to darkness,

And to the farthest limit he searches out

The rock in gloom and deep shadow.

⁴“He sinks a shaft away from inhabited areas,[#28:4 Lit breaks open; #28:4 Lit sojourning]

Forgotten by the foot;

They hang and swing, away from people.

⁵“From the earth comes food,[#28:5 Lit Earth, from it]

And underneath, it is turned over like fire.

⁶“Its rocks are the source of sapphires,[#28:6 Or place]

And its dust contains gold.

⁷“No bird of prey knows the path,

Nor has the falcon’s eye caught sight of it.

⁸“The proud animals have not trodden it,[#28:8 Lit sons of pride]

Nor has the lion passed over it.

⁹“He puts his hand on the flint;

He overturns the mountains at the base.

¹⁰“He carves out channels through the rocks,

And his eye sees anything precious.

¹¹“He dams up the streams from flowing,[#28:11 Lit weeping]

And brings to light what is hidden.

The Search for Wisdom Is Harder

¹²¶“But where can wisdom be found?

And where is the place of understanding?

¹³“Mankind does not know its value,

Nor is it found in the land of the living.

¹⁴“The ocean depth says, ‘It is not in me’;

And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’

¹⁵“Pure gold cannot be given in exchange for it,

Nor can silver be weighed as its price.

¹⁶“It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,

In precious onyx, or sapphire.

¹⁷“Gold or glass cannot equal it,

Nor can it be exchanged for articles of pure gold.

¹⁸“Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned;

And the acquisition of wisdom is more valuable than pearls.

¹⁹“The topaz of Cush cannot equal it,[#28:19 Or Ethiopia]

Nor can it be valued in pure gold.

²⁰“Where then does wisdom come from?

And where is this place of understanding?

²¹“It is hidden from the eyes of every living creature,

And concealed from the birds of the sky.

²²“Abaddon and Death say,[#28:22 I.e., Destruction]

‘With our ears we have heard a report of it.’

²³¶“God understands its way,

And He knows its place.

²⁴“For He looks to the ends of the earth;

He sees everything under the heavens.

²⁵“When He imparted weight to the wind,

And assessed the waters by measure,

²⁶When He made a limit for the rain,

And a course for the thunderbolt,

²⁷Then He saw it and declared it;

He established it and also searched it out.

²⁸“And to mankind He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;

And to turn away from evil is understanding.’ ”