Where Can Wisdom Be Found?

¹ “Surely there is a mine for silver

and a place where gold is refined.

² Iron is taken from the earth,

and copper is smelted from ore.

³ Man puts an end to the darkness;

he probes the farthest recesses

for ore in deepest darkness.

⁴ Far from human habitation^* he cuts a shaft

in places forgotten by the foot of man.

Far from men he dangles and sways.^*

⁵ Food may come from the earth,

but from below it is transformed as by fire.

⁶ Its rocks are the source of sapphires,

containing flecks of gold.

⁷ No bird of prey knows that path;

no falcon’s eye has seen it.

⁸ Proud beasts have never trodden it;

no lion has ever prowled over it.

⁹ The miner strikes the flint;

he overturns mountains at their base.

¹⁰ He hews out channels^* in the rocks,

and his eyes spot every treasure.

¹¹ He stops up the sources^* of the streams

to bring what is hidden to light.

¹² But where can wisdom be found,

and where does understanding^* dwell?

¹³ No man can know its value,

nor is it found in the land of the living.

¹⁴ The ocean depths say, ‘It is not in me,’

while the sea declares, ‘It is not with me.’

¹⁵ It cannot be bought with gold,

nor can its price be weighed out^* in silver.

¹⁶ It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,

in precious onyx or sapphire.

¹⁷ Neither gold nor crystal can compare to it,

nor jewels of fine gold be exchanged for it.

¹⁸ Coral and quartz are unworthy of mention;

the price of wisdom is beyond rubies.

¹⁹ Topaz from Cush cannot compare to it,

nor can it be valued in pure gold.

²⁰ From where, then, does wisdom come,

and where does understanding^* dwell?

²¹ It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing

and concealed from the birds of the air.

²² Abaddon^* and Death say,

‘We have heard a rumor about it.’

²³ But God understands its way,

and He knows its place.

²⁴ For He looks to the ends of the earth

and sees everything under the heavens.

²⁵ When God fixed the weight of the wind

and measured out the waters,

²⁶ when He set a limit for the rain

and a path for the thunderbolt,

²⁷ then He looked at wisdom and appraised it;

He established it^* and searched it out.^*

²⁸ And He said to man, ‘Behold,

the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,

and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”