1Surely there is a mine for silver,
a place where they refine gold.

2Iron is taken out of the earth;
copper is smelted out of the stone.

3A man sets an end to darkness
and searches out, to the farthest limit,
the stones in obscurity and thick darkness.

4He 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.

5As for the earth, out of which comes bread,
it is turned up below as if by fire.

6Its stones are the place where sapphires are found,
and its dust contains gold.

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

8The proud animals have not walked such a path,
nor has the fierce lion passed there.

9A man lays his hand on the flinty rock;
he overturns mountains by their roots.

10He cuts out channels among the rocks;
his eye sees every valuable thing there.

11He ties up the streams so they do not run;
what is hidden there he brings out to the light.

12Where will wisdom be found?
Where is the place of understanding?

13Man does not know its price;
neither is it found in the land of the living.

14The deep waters under the earth say, 'It is not in me';
the sea says, 'It is not with me.'

15It cannot be gotten for gold;
neither can silver be weighed as its price.

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

17Gold and crystal cannot equal it in worth;
neither can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.

18No mention is worth making of coral or jasper;
indeed, the price of wisdom is more than rubies.

19The topaz of Cush does not equal it;
neither can it be valued in terms of pure gold.

20From where, then, comes wisdom?
Where is the place of understanding?

21Wisdom is hidden from the eyes of all living things
and is kept hidden from the birds of the heavens.

22Destruction and Death say,
'We have heard just a rumor about it with our ears.'

23God understands the way to it;
he knows its place.

24For he looks to the very ends of the earth
and sees under all the heavens.

25He made the force of the wind
and parceled out the waters by measure.

26He made a decree for the rain
and a path for the thunder.

27Then he saw wisdom and announced it;
he established it, indeed, and he examined it.

28To people he said,
'See, the fear of the Lord—that is wisdom;
to depart from evil is understanding.'”