Job 28:1-19

New Century Version

28 “There are mines where people dig silver
    and places where gold is made pure.
² Iron is taken from the ground,
    and copper is melted out of rocks.
³ Miners bring lights
    and search deep into the mines
    for ore in thick darkness.
⁴ Miners dig a tunnel far from where people live,
    where no one has ever walked;
    they work far from people, swinging and swaying from ropes.
⁵ Food grows on top of the earth,
    but below ground things are changed as if by fire.
⁶ Sapphires are found in rocks,
    and gold dust is also found there.
⁷ No hawk knows that path;
    the falcon has not seen it.
⁸ Proud animals have not walked there,
    and no lions cross over it.
⁹ Miners hit the rocks of flint
    and dig away at the bottom of the mountains.
¹⁰ They cut tunnels through the rock
    and see all the treasures there.
¹¹ They search for places where rivers begin
    and bring things hidden out into the light.

¹² “But where can wisdom be found,
    and where does understanding live?
¹³ People do not understand the value of wisdom;
    it cannot be found among those who are alive.
¹⁴ The deep ocean says, ‘It’s not in me;’
    the sea says, ‘It’s not in me.’
¹⁵ Wisdom cannot be bought with gold,
    and its cost cannot be weighed in silver.
¹⁶ Wisdom cannot be bought with fine gold
    or with valuable onyx or sapphire gems.
¹⁷ Gold and crystal are not as valuable as wisdom,
    and you cannot buy it with jewels of gold.
¹⁸ Coral and jasper are not worth talking about,
    and the price of wisdom is much greater than rubies.
¹⁹ The topaz from Cush cannot compare to wisdom;
    it cannot be bought with the purest gold.