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Job 28
Jubilee Bible 2000
Job 28
Jubilee Bible 2000
28 ¶ Surely there is a mine for the silver, and a place for gold where they refine it.
2 Iron is taken out of the dust, and bronze is melted out of the stone.
3 He set a border unto the darkness, and unto every perfect work that he made, he placed a stone of darkness and shadow of death.
4 The river breaks forth next to the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot, that were higher than man, are gone away.
5 Land out of which bread comes forth, and underneath it shall be as if it were converted in fire.
6 A place where its stones shall be sapphires; and it shall have dust of gold.
7 A path which no fowl knows and which the vulture’s eye has never seen;
8 the young of the proud have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lion passed by it.
9 He put his hand upon the flint and overturned the mountains from the root.
10 He cut rivers out of the rocks; and his eye saw every precious thing.
11 He detained the rivers in their source and caused that which was hid to be brought to light.
12 But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?
13 Man never knew its price; neither is it found in the land of the living.
14 ¶ The deep saith, It is not in me; and the sea saith, It is not with me.
15 It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for its price.
16 It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx or the sapphire.
17 Gold cannot equal it, nor can diamond; neither shall it be exchanged for vessels of fine gold.
18 No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls; for wisdom is better than precious stones.
19 The emerald of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold.
20 ¶ Where then does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding?
21 Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living and kept concealed from every fowl of the heaven.
22 Hell and death say, We have heard its fame with our ears.
23 God understands its way, and he alone knows its place.
24 For he looks unto the ends of the earth and sees under the whole heaven,
25 To make a weight for the wind and to supply water by measure,
26 when he made a law for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunders.
27 Then he saw it and counted it; he prepared it and also searched it out.
28 And unto man he said, Behold, that the fear of the Lord, is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.
Job 28
Contemporary English Version
Job 28
Contemporary English Version
Job Continues
Gold and Silver Are Mined
28 Gold and silver are mined,
then purified;
2 the same is done
with iron and copper.
3 Miners carry lanterns
deep into the darkness
to search for these metals.
4 They dig tunnels
in distant, unknown places,
where they dangle by ropes.
5 Far beneath the grain fields,
fires are built
to break loose those rocks
6 that have jewels or gold.[a]
7 Miners go to places unseen
by the eyes of hawks;
8 they walk on soil unknown
to the proudest lions.
9 With their own hands
they remove sharp rocks
and uproot mountains.
10 They dig through the rocks
in search of jewels
and precious metals.
11 They also uncover
the sources of[b] rivers
and discover secret places.
Where Is Wisdom Found?
12 (A) But where is wisdom found?
13 (B) No human knows the way.[c]
14 Nor can it be discovered
in the deepest sea.
* 15 It is worth much more
than silver or pure gold
16 or precious stones.
17 Nothing is its equal—
not gold or costly glass.[d]
18 Wisdom is worth much more than
coral, jasper,[e] or rubies.
19 All the topaz[f] of Ethiopia[g]
and the finest gold
cannot compare with it.
20 Where then is wisdom?
21 It is hidden from human eyes
and even from birds.
22 Death and destruction
have merely heard rumors
about where it is found.
23 (C) God is the only one who knows
the way to wisdom;
24 he alone sees everything
beneath the heavens.
25 When God divided out
the wind and the water,
26 and when he decided the path
for rain and lightning,
27 (D) he also determined the truth
and defined wisdom.
28 (E) God told us, “Wisdom means
that you respect me, the Lord,
and turn from sin.”
Footnotes
- 28.6 gold: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verses 5,6.
- 28.11 uncover the sources of: Two ancient translations; Hebrew “dam up.”
- 28.13 the way: Or “its worth.”
- 28.17 costly glass: In the ancient world, objects made of glass were costly.
- 28.18 jasper: A valuable stone, usually green or clear.
- 28.19 topaz: A valuable, yellow stone.
- 28.19 Ethiopia: The Hebrew text has “Cush,” which was a region south of Egypt that included parts of the present countries of Ethiopia and Sudan.
Job 28
New International Version
Job 28
New International Version
Interlude: Where Wisdom Is Found
28 There is a mine for silver
and a place where gold is refined.(A)
2 Iron is taken from the earth,
and copper is smelted from ore.(B)
3 Mortals put an end to the darkness;(C)
they search out the farthest recesses
for ore in the blackest darkness.(D)
4 Far from human dwellings they cut a shaft,(E)
in places untouched by human feet;
far from other people they dangle and sway.
5 The earth, from which food comes,(F)
is transformed below as by fire;
6 lapis lazuli(G) comes from its rocks,
and its dust contains nuggets of gold.(H)
7 No bird of prey knows that hidden path,
no falcon’s eye has seen it.(I)
8 Proud beasts(J) do not set foot on it,
and no lion prowls there.(K)
9 People assault the flinty rock(L) with their hands
and lay bare the roots of the mountains.(M)
10 They tunnel through the rock;(N)
their eyes see all its treasures.(O)
11 They search[a] the sources of the rivers(P)
and bring hidden things(Q) to light.
12 But where can wisdom be found?(R)
Where does understanding dwell?(S)
13 No mortal comprehends its worth;(T)
it cannot be found in the land of the living.(U)
14 The deep(V) says, “It is not in me”;
the sea(W) says, “It is not with me.”
15 It cannot be bought with the finest gold,
nor can its price be weighed out in silver.(X)
16 It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir,(Y)
with precious onyx or lapis lazuli.(Z)
17 Neither gold nor crystal can compare with it,(AA)
nor can it be had for jewels of gold.(AB)
18 Coral(AC) and jasper(AD) are not worthy of mention;
the price of wisdom is beyond rubies.(AE)
19 The topaz(AF) of Cush(AG) cannot compare with it;
it cannot be bought with pure gold.(AH)
20 Where then does wisdom come from?
Where does understanding dwell?(AI)
21 It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing,
concealed even from the birds in the sky.(AJ)
22 Destruction[b](AK) and Death(AL) say,
“Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.”
23 God understands the way to it
and he alone(AM) knows where it dwells,(AN)
24 for he views the ends of the earth(AO)
and sees everything under the heavens.(AP)
25 When he established the force of the wind
and measured out the waters,(AQ)
26 when he made a decree for the rain(AR)
and a path for the thunderstorm,(AS)
27 then he looked at wisdom and appraised it;
he confirmed it and tested it.(AT)
28 And he said to the human race,
“The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
and to shun evil(AU) is understanding.”(AV)
Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB)
Copyright © 2013, 2020 by Ransom Press International
Contemporary English Version (CEV) 
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New International Version (NIV) 
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