Job Continues
Gold and Silver Are Mined
1 Gold and silver are mined,
then purified;
2 the same is done
with iron and copper.
3 Miners carry lanterns
deep into the darkness
to search for these metals.
4 They dig tunnels
in distant, unknown places,
where they dangle by ropes.
5 Far beneath the grain fields,
fires are built
to break loose those rocks
6 that have jewels or gold.
7 Miners go to places unseen
by the eyes of hawks;
8 they walk on soil unknown
to the proudest lions.
9 With their own hands
they remove sharp rocks
and uproot mountains.
10 They dig through the rocks
in search of jewels
and precious metals.
11 They also uncover
the sources of rivers
and discover secret places.
Where Is Wisdom Found?
12 But where is wisdom found?
13 No human knows the way.
14 Nor can it be discovered
in the deepest sea.
* 15 It is worth much more
than silver or pure gold
16 or precious stones.
17 Nothing is its equal—
not gold or costly glass.
18 Wisdom is worth much more than
coral, jasper, or rubies.
19 All the topaz of Ethiopia
and the finest gold
cannot compare with it.
20 Where then is wisdom?
21 It is hidden from human eyes
and even from birds.
22 Death and destruction
have merely heard rumors
about where it is found.
23 God is the only one who knows
the way to wisdom;
24 he alone sees everything
beneath the heavens.
25 When God divided out
the wind and the water,
26 and when he decided the path
for rain and lightning,
27 he also determined the truth
and defined wisdom.
28 God told us, “Wisdom means
that you respect me, the Lord,
and turn from sin.”
1 The siluer surely hath his veyne, and ye gold his place, where they take it. 2 Yron is taken out of the dust, and brasse is molten out of the stone. 3 God putteth an end to darkenesse, and he tryeth the perfection of all things: he setteth a bond of darkenesse, and of the shadowe of death. 4 The flood breaketh out against the inhabitant, and the waters forgotten of the foote, being higher then man, are gone away. 5 Out of the same earth commeth bread, and vnder it, as it were fire is turned vp. 6 The stones thereof are a place of saphirs, and the dust of it is golde. 7 There is a path which no foule hath knowen, neyther hath the kites eye seene it. 8 The lyons whelpes haue not walked it, nor the lyon passed thereby. 9 He putteth his hand vpon the rockes, and ouerthroweth the mountaines by the rootes. 10 He breaketh riuers in the rockes, and his eye seeth euery precious thing. 11 He bindeth the floods, that they doe not ouerflowe, and the thing that is hid, bringeth he to light. 12 But where is wisdome found? and where is the place of vnderstanding? 13 Man knoweth not the price thereof: for it is not found in the land of the liuing. 14 The depth sayth, It is not in mee: the sea also sayth, It is not with me. 15 Golde shall not be giuen for it, neyther shall siluer be weighed for the price thereof. 16 It shall not be valued with the wedge of golde of Ophir, nor with the precious onix, nor the saphir. 17 The golde nor the chrystall shall be equall vnto it, nor the exchange shalbe for plate of fine golde. 18 No mention shall be made of coral, nor of the gabish: for wisedome is more precious then pearles. 19 The Topaz of Ethiopia shall not be equall vnto it, neither shall it be valued with the wedge of pure gold. 20 Whence then commeth wisedome? and where is the place of vnderstanding, 21 Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all the liuing, and is hid from the foules of the heauen? 22 Destruction and death say, We haue heard the fame thereof with our eares. 23 But God vnderstandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof. 24 For he beholdeth the endes of the world, and seeth all that is vnder heauen, 25 To make the weight of the windes, and to weigh the waters by measure. 26 When he made a decree for the rayne, and a way for the lightening of the thunders, 27 Then did he see it, and counted it: he prepared it and also considered it. 28 And vnto man he said, Behold, the feare of the Lord is wisedome, and to depart from euil is vnderstanding.