ACV - Job - 28

28:1  Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold which they refine.

28:2  Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is molten out of the stone.

28:3  Man sets an end to darkness, and searches out to the furthest bound the stones of obscurity and of thick darkness.

28:4  He breaks open a shaft away from where men sojourn, paths forgotten by the foot. They hang afar from men; they swing to and fro.

28:5  As for the earth, out of it comes bread, and underneath it is turned up as it were by fire.

28:6  The stones of it are the place of sapphires, and it has dust of gold.

28:7  No bird of prey knows that path, nor has the falcon's eye seen it.

28:8  The proud beasts have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lion passed thereby.

28:9  He puts forth his hand upon the flinty rock. He overturns the mountains by the roots.

28:10  He cuts out channels among the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing.

28:11  He binds the streams that they not trickle. And the thing that is hid he brings forth to light.

28:12  But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?

28:13  Man does not know the price of it, nor is it found in the land of the living.

28:14  The deep says, It is not in me. And the sea says, It is not with me.

28:15  It cannot be gotten for gold, nor shall silver be weighed for the price of it.

28:16  It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.

28:17  Gold and glass cannot equal it, nor shall it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.

28:18  No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal. Yea, the price of wisdom is above rubies.

28:19  The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, nor shall it be valued with pure gold.

28:20  Where then does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding?

28:21  Since it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept closed from the birds of the heavens.

28:22  Destruction and Death say, We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.

28:23  God understands the way of it, and he knows the place of it.

28:24  For he looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole heaven,

28:25  to make a weight for the wind. Yea, he distributes the waters by measure.

28:26  When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder,

28:27  then he saw it, and declared it. He established it, yea, and searched it out.

28:28  And to man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.