Job 28:1-13 ▼

1 Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined.

2 Iron is taken from the ground, and rock is poured out as copper.

3 Man puts an end to the darkness; he searches the farthest recesses for the ore in the deepest darkness.

4 Far from where people live he sinks a shaft, in places travelers have long forgotten, far from other people he dangles and sways.

5 The earth, from which food comes, is overturned below as though by fire;

6 a place whose stones are sapphires and which contains dust of gold;

7 a hidden path no bird of prey knows--no falcon's eye has spotted it.

8 Proud beasts have not set foot on it, and no lion has passed along it.

9 On the flinty rock man has set to work with his hand; he has overturned mountains at their bases.

10 He has cut out channels through the rocks; his eyes have spotted every precious thing.

11 He has searched the sources of the rivers and what was hidden he has brought into the light.

12 But wisdom--where can it be found? Where is the place of understanding?

13 Mankind does not know its place; it cannot be found in the land of the living.