1Surely there is a mine for silver,
And a place for gold which they refine.
2Iron is taken out of the earth,
And copper is molten out of the stone.
3
Man setteth an end to darkness,
And searcheth out, to the furthest bound,
The stones of obscurity and of thick darkness.
4He breaketh open a shaft away from where men sojourn;
They are forgotten of the foot;
They hang afar from men, they swing to and fro.
5As for the earth, out of it cometh bread;
And underneath it is turned up as it were by fire.
6The stones thereof are the place of sapphires,
And it hath dust of gold.
7That path no bird of prey knoweth,
Neither hath the falcon’s eye seen it:
8The proud beasts have not trodden it,
Nor hath the fierce lion passed thereby.
9He putteth forth his hand upon the flinty rock;
He overturneth the mountains by the roots.
10He cutteth out channels among the rocks;
And his eye seeth every precious thing.
11He bindeth the streams that they trickle not;
And the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.
12But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13Man knoweth not the price thereof;
Neither is it found in the land of the living.
14The deep saith, It is not in me;
And the sea saith, It is not with me.
15It cannot be gotten for gold,
Neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.
16It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir,
With the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
17Gold and glass cannot equal it,
Neither shall it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
18No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal:
Yea, the price of wisdom is above rubies.
19The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it,
Neither shall it be valued with pure gold.
20Whence then cometh wisdom?
And where is the place of understanding?
21Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living,
And kept close from the birds of the heavens.
22Destruction and Death say,
We have heard a rumor thereof with our ears.
23God understandeth the way thereof,
And he knoweth the place thereof.
24For he looketh to the ends of the earth,
And seeth under the whole heaven;
25To make a weight for the wind:
Yea, he meteth out the waters by measure.
26When he made a decree for the rain,
And a way for the lightning of the thunder;
27Then did he see it, and declare it;
He established it, yea, and searched it out.
28And unto man he said,
Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
And to depart from evil is understanding.
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