NHEBME - 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 smelted out of the ore.

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 people live. They are forgotten by the foot. They hang far from men, they swing back and forth.

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

28:6  Sapphires come from its rocks. It has dust of gold.

28:7  That path no bird of prey knows, neither has the falcon's eye seen it.

28:8  The proud animals have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lion passed by there.

28:9  He puts forth his hand on the flinty rock, and he overturns the mountains by the roots.

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

28:11  He binds the streams that they do not trickle. The thing that is hidden he brings forth to light.

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

28:13  Man doesn't know its price; Neither is it found in the land of the living.

28:14  The deep says, 'It isn't in me.' The sea says, 'It isn't with me.'

28:15  It can't be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for its price.

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

28:17  Gold and glass can't equal it, neither shall it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.

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

28:19  The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, Neither shall it be valued with pure gold.

28:20  Whence then comes wisdom? Where is the place of understanding?

28:21  Seeing it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the birds of the sky.

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

28:23  "God understands its way, and he knows its place.

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

28:25  He establishes the force of the wind. Yes, he measures out 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, yes, and searched it out.

28:28  To man he said, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.'"