Job’s Discourse on Wisdom

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^[a] 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^[b] 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.’”