Where Can Wisdom Be Found?

¹“Surely there is a mine for silver,[#28:1 Or For; #28:1 Or source]

And a place where they refine for 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 thick darkness and shadow of death.

⁴“He sinks a shaft far from habitation,[#28:4 Lit breaks open; #28:4 Lit sojourning]

Forgotten by the foot;

They hang and swing to and fro far from men.

⁵“The earth, from it comes food,

And underneath it is overturned as fire.

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

And its dust contains gold.

⁷“The path no bird of prey knows,

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

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

Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.

⁹“He sends his hand forth to the flint;

He overturns the mountains at the base.

¹⁰“He breaks out channels through the rocks,

And his eye sees anything precious.

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

And what is hidden he brings out to the light.

¹²¶“But where can wisdom 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“Pure gold cannot be given in place of 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 meet its worth,

Nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold.

¹⁸“Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned;

And the acquisition of wisdom is above that of pearls.

¹⁹“The topaz of Ethiopia cannot meet its worth,[#28:19 Or Cush , cf. Gen 10:6]

Nor can it be valued in pure gold.

²⁰“Where then does wisdom come from?

And where is the place of understanding?

²¹“Thus it is hidden from the eyes of all living

And concealed from the birds of the sky.

²²“Abaddon and Death say,[#28:22 Lit The realm of 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

And sees everything under the heavens.

²⁵“When He set weight to the wind

And meted out the waters by measure,

²⁶When He set a limit for the rain

And a course for the thunderbolt,

²⁷Then He saw it and recounted it;

He established it and also searched it out.

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

And to turn away from evil is understanding.’ ”