Job 28 New King James Version

Job’s Discourse on Wisdom

28 “Surely there is a mine for silver,
And a place where gold is refined.
²Iron is taken from the ^[a]earth,
And copper is smelted from ore.
³Man puts an end to darkness,
And searches every recess
For ore in the darkness and the shadow of death.
⁴He breaks open a shaft away from people;
In places forgotten by feet
They hang far away from men;
They swing to and fro.
⁵As for the earth, from it comes bread,
But underneath it is turned up as by fire;
⁶Its stones are the source of sapphires,
And it contains gold dust.
⁷That path no bird knows,
Nor has the falcon’s eye seen it.
⁸The ^[b]proud lions have not trodden it,
Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.
⁹He puts his hand on the flint;
He overturns the mountains ^[c]at the roots.
¹⁰He cuts out channels in the rocks,
And his eye sees every precious thing.
¹¹He dams up the streams from trickling;
What is hidden he brings forth to light.

¹²“But^(A) where can wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
¹³Man does not know its ^(B)value,
Nor is it found in the land of the living.
¹⁴^(C)The deep says, ‘It is not in me’;
And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
¹⁵It ^(D)cannot be purchased for gold,
Nor can silver be weighed for its price.
¹⁶It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
In precious onyx or sapphire.
¹⁷Neither ^(E)gold nor crystal can equal it,
Nor can it be exchanged for ^[d]jewelry of fine gold.
¹⁸No mention shall be made of ^[e]coral or quartz,
For the price of wisdom is above ^(F)rubies.
¹⁹The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
Nor can it be valued in pure ^(G)gold.

²⁰“From^(H) where then does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?
²¹It is hidden from the eyes of all living,
And concealed from the birds of the ^[f]air.
²²^(I)Destruction^[g] and Death say,
‘We have heard a report about it with our ears.’
²³God understands its way,
And He knows its place.
²⁴For He looks to the ends of the earth,
And ^(J)sees under the whole heavens,
²⁵^(K)To establish a weight for the wind,
And apportion the waters by measure.
²⁶When He ^(L)made a law for the rain,
And a path for the thunderbolt,
²⁷Then He saw ^[h]wisdom and declared it;
He prepared it, indeed, He searched it out.
²⁸And to man He said,
‘Behold, ^(M)the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
And to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”