1Surely there is a mine for silver, And a place for gold which they refine. 2Iron is taken out of the earth, And copper is molten out of the stone. 3[Man] sets an end to darkness, And searches out, to the furthest bound, The stones of obscurity and of thick darkness. 4He breaks open a shaft away from where men sojourn; They are forgotten of the foot; They hang far from common man, they swing to and fro. 5As for the earth, out of it comes bread; And underneath it is turned up as it were by fire. 6Its stones are the place of sapphires, And it has dust of gold. 7That path no bird of prey knows, Neither has the falcon's eye seen it: 8The proud beasts haven't trodden it, Nor has the fierce lion passed by it. 9He puts forth 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 dams up the sources of the rivers; And the thing that is hid he brings forth to light. 12But where will wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? 13Common man doesn't know its price; Neither is it found in the land of the living. 14The deep says, It is not in me; And the sea says, It is not with me. 15It can't be obtained for gold, Neither will silver be weighed for its price. 16It can't be valued with the gold of Ophir, With the precious onyx, or the sapphire. 17Gold and glass can't equal it, Neither will it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold. 18No mention will be made of coral or of crystal: Yes, the price of wisdom is above rubies. 19The topaz of Ethiopia will not equal it, Neither will it be valued with pure gold. 20From where then comes wisdom? And where is the place of understanding? 21Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, And kept close from the birds of the heavens. 22Destruction and Death say, We have heard a rumor of it with our ears. 23God understands its way, And he knows its place. 24For he looks to the ends of the earth, And sees under the whole heaven; 25To make a weight for the wind: Yes, he metes out the waters by measure. 26When he made a decree for the rain, And a way for the lightning of the thunder; 27Then he saw it, and declared it; He established it, yes, and searched it out. 28And to man he said, Look, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.