Where Can Wisdom Be Found?

1“[†]Surely there is a [†]mine for silver,

And a place [†]where they refine for gold.

2Iron is taken from the dust,

And copper is smelted from rock.

3Man puts an end to darkness,

And to the farthest limit he searches out

The rock in thick darkness and shadow of death.

4He [†]sinks a shaft far from [†]habitation,

Forgotten by the foot;

They hang and swing to and fro far from men.

5The earth, from it comes food,

And underneath it is overturned as fire.

6Its rocks are the [†]source of sapphires,

And its dust contains gold.

7The path no bird of prey knows,

Nor has the falcon’s eye caught sight of it.

8The [†]proud beasts have not trodden it,

Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.

9He sends his hand forth to the flint;

He overturns the mountains at the [†]base.

10He breaks out channels through the rocks,

And his eye sees anything precious.

11He dams up the streams from [†]flowing,

And what is hidden he brings out to the light.

12“But where can wisdom be found?

And where is the place of understanding?

13Man does not know its worth,

And it is not found in the land of the living.

14The deep says, ‘It is not in me’;

And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’

15Pure gold cannot be given in place of it,

Nor can silver be weighed as its price.

16It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,

In precious onyx or sapphire.

17Gold or glass cannot meet its worth,

Nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold.

18Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned;

And the acquisition of wisdom is above that of pearls.

19The topaz of [†]Ethiopia cannot meet its worth,

Nor can it be valued in pure gold.

20Where then does wisdom come from?

And where is the place of understanding?

21Thus it is hidden from the eyes of all living

And concealed from the birds of the sky.

22[†]Abaddon and Death say,

‘With our ears we have heard a report of it.’

23“God understands its way,

And He knows its place.

24For He looks to the ends of the earth

And sees everything under the heavens.

25When He set weight to the wind

And meted out the waters by measure,

26When He set a limit for the rain

And a course for the thunderbolt,

27Then He saw it and recounted it;

He established it and also searched it out.

28So He said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;

And to turn away from evil is understanding.’”