28 “Indeed, there is a mine for silver
and a place for gold to be refined.^[a]
2 Iron is taken from dust,
and he pours out copper from ore.
³ He puts an end to darkness,
and he searches out the farthest limits
for the ore in gloom and deep shadow.
⁴ He breaks open a mine shaft away from where people dwell;^[b]
those who are forgotten by travelers,^[c]
they dangle, they sway far away from human beings.
⁵ As for the earth, from it comes food,^[d]
but^[e] underneath it, it is turned up as by fire.
⁶ Its stones are the place of sapphire,
and the earthen dirt has^[f] gold.
⁷ “It is a path a bird of prey does not know
and the black kite’s eye has not seen.
⁸ Proud wild animals^[g] have not trodden it;
the lion in its prime has not prowled over it.
⁹ He puts his hand on the hard rock;
he overturns mountains by the roots.
¹⁰ He cuts out tunnels in the rocks,
and his eye sees every treasure.
¹¹ He dams up rivers from their sources,
and he brings secret things to the light.
¹² “But^[h] from where will wisdom be found?
And where in the world^[i] is the place of understanding?
¹³ A human being does not know its proper value,
and it is not found in the land of the living.
¹⁴ The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
¹⁵ “Refined gold cannot be gotten in its place,
and silver cannot be weighed out as its price.
¹⁶ It cannot be bought for the gold of Ophir,
for precious onyx or^[j] sapphire.
¹⁷ Gold and glass cannot be compared with it,
and its substitution cannot be an ornament of refined gold.
¹⁸ Black corals and crystal will not be mentioned,
and wisdom’s price is more than red corals.
¹⁹ The topaz of Cush cannot be compared with it;
it cannot be bought for pure gold.