Job 28:1-11

English Standard Version

Job Continues: Where Is Wisdom?

28 “Surely there is a mine for silver,
    and a place for gold that they ^(A)refine.
²Iron is taken out of the earth,
    and copper is smelted from the ore.
³Man puts an end to darkness
    and searches out to the farthest limit
    the ore in ^(B)gloom and ^(C)deep darkness.
⁴He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives;
    they are forgotten by travelers;
    they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro.
⁵As for the earth, ^(D)out of it comes bread,
    but underneath it is turned up as by fire.
⁶Its stones are the place of ^(E)sapphires,^[a]
    and it has dust of gold.

⁷“That path no bird of prey knows,
and the falcon's eye has not seen it.
⁸^(F)The proud beasts have not trodden it;
^(G)the lion has not passed over it.

⁹“Man puts his hand to ^(H)the flinty rock
    and overturns mountains by the roots.
¹⁰He cuts out channels in the rocks,
    and his eye sees every precious thing.
¹¹He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle,
    and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.