1Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined.
2Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is melted out of the stone.
3Man puts an end to darkness, and searches out every limit: the stones that lie in the dark and in the shadow of death.
4The flood breaks out away from where people live; even the waters the foot has forgotten. They are dried up, they are gone far from men.
5As for the earth, out of it comes bread. Under it things are turned up as if by fire.
6Its stones are the place of sapphires, and it has dust of gold.
7There is a path which no bird knows, and which the vulture's eye has not seen.
8The lion's cubs have not walked on it, and the fierce lion has not passed by it.
9Man lays his hand on the flinty rock. He overturns the mountains by the roots.
10He cuts out channels among the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing.
11He binds the streams so they do not overflow, and what is hidden he brings out to the light.
12But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?
13Man does not know its price, and it is not found in the land of the living.
14The deep says, "It is not in me." The sea says, "It is not with me."
15It cannot be bought with gold, and silver cannot be weighed out as its price.
16It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
17Gold and crystal cannot equal it, and it cannot be traded for jewels of fine gold.
18Coral and pearls are not worth mentioning, for the price of wisdom is above rubies.
19The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, and it cannot be valued with pure gold.
20Where then does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding?
21It is hidden from the eyes of all the living, and kept secret from the birds of the air.
22Destruction and death say, "We have heard a report of it with our ears."
23God understands the way to it, and he knows its place.
24For he looks to the ends of the earth, and sees everything under the whole heaven.
25He gives the wind its weight, and he measures out the waters.
26When he made a rule for the rain, and a path for the thunderbolt,
27then he saw wisdom and declared it. He set it up, and searched it out.
28And to man he said, "Look, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding."