Job 28
1 Surely there is a mine for silver, a place where they refine gold.
Surely there is for silver a source, And a place for the gold they refine;
2 Iron is taken out of the earth; copper is smelted out of the stone.
Iron from the dust is taken, And [from] the firm stone brass.
3 A man sets an end to darkness and searches out, to the farthest limit, the stones in obscurity and thick darkness.
An end hath he set to darkness, And to all perfection he is searching, A stone of darkness and death-shade.
4 He breaks open a shaft away from where people live, places that are forgotten by anyone's foot. He hangs far away from people; he swings to and fro.
A stream hath broken out from a sojourner, Those forgotten of the foot, They were low, from man they wandered.
5 As for the earth, out of which comes bread, it is turned up below as if by fire.
The earth! from it cometh forth bread, And its under-part is turned like fire.
6 Its stones are the place where sapphires are found, and its dust contains gold.
A place of the sapphire [are] its stones, And it hath dust of gold.
7 No bird of prey knows the path to it, nor has the falcon's eye seen it.
A path — not known it hath a ravenous fowl, Nor scorched it hath an eye of the kite,
8 The proud animals have not walked such a path, nor has the fierce lion passed there.
Nor trodden it have the sons of pride, Not passed over it hath the fierce lion.
9 A man lays his hand on the flinty rock; he overturns mountains by their roots.
Against the flint he sent forth his hand, He overturned from the root mountains.
10 He cuts out channels among the rocks; his eye sees every valuable thing there.
Among rocks, brooks he hath cleaved, And every precious thing hath his eye seen.
11 He ties up the streams so they do not run; what is hidden there he brings out to the light.
From overflowing floods he hath bound, And the hidden thing bringeth out [to] light.
12 Where will wisdom be found? Where is the place of understanding?
And the wisdom — whence is it found? And where [is] this, the place of understanding?
13 Man does not know its price; neither is it found in the land of the living.
Man hath not known its arrangement, Nor is it found in the land of the living.
14 The deep waters under the earth say, 'It is not in me'; the sea says, 'It is not with me.'
The deep hath said, 'It [is] not in me,' And the sea hath said, 'It is not with me.'
15 It cannot be gotten for gold; neither can silver be weighed as its price.
Gold is not given for it, Nor is silver weighed — its price.
16 It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with precious onyx or sapphire.
It is not valued with pure gold of Ophir, With precious onyx and sapphire,
17 Gold and crystal cannot equal it in worth; neither can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
Not equal it do gold and crystal, Nor [is] its exchange a vessel of fine gold.
18 No mention is worth making of coral or jasper; indeed, the price of wisdom is more than rubies.
Corals and pearl are not remembered, The acquisition of wisdom [is] above rubies.
19 The topaz of Cush does not equal it; neither can it be valued in terms of pure gold.
Not equal it doth the topaz of Cush, With pure gold it is not valued.
20 From where, then, comes wisdom? Where is the place of understanding?
And the wisdom — whence doth it come? And where [is] this, the place of understanding?
21 Wisdom is hidden from the eyes of all living things and is kept hidden from the birds of the heavens.
It hath been hid from the eyes of all living. And from the fowl of the heavens It hath been hidden.
22 Destruction and Death say, 'We have heard just a rumor about it with our ears.'
Destruction and death have said: 'With our ears we have heard its fame.'
23 God understands the way to it; he knows its place.
God hath understood its way, And He hath known its place.
24 For he looks to the very ends of the earth and sees under all the heavens.
For He to the ends of the earth doth look, Under the whole heavens He doth see,
25 He made the force of the wind and parceled out the waters by measure.
To make for the wind a weight, And the waters He meted out in measure.
26 He made a decree for the rain and a path for the thunder.
In His making for the rain a limit, And a way for the brightness of the voices,
27 Then he saw wisdom and announced it; he established it, indeed, and he examined it.
Then He hath seen and declareth it, He hath prepared it, and also searched it out,
28 To people he said, 'See, the fear of the Lord—that is wisdom; to depart from evil is understanding.'”
And He saith to man: — 'Lo, fear of the Lord, that [is] wisdom, And to turn from evil [is] understanding.'
