Job 28:1-28 VOICE

[1] Job: There is a place where silver is mined, a place where gold is refined. [2] There iron is dug from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore. [3] Humans put an end to darkness, and search in every last corner For the ore that is in gloom and darkness. [4] In the earth they cut a shaft in a place forgotten, far from the beaten path; They descend on ropes, swinging dangerously back and forth. [5] The ground above yields food; the earth below is turned as if fire has destroyed it [6] Where earth gives up sapphires from her rocks and bits of gold from her dirt. [7] No bird of prey knows this way, this secret path down below; no falcon's eye has ever peered into it. [8] No proud beast has ever reached this place; no lordly lion has marched over it. [9] The miner breaks apart flinty stone, uprooting the ancient mountains. [10] He carves tunnels through the rock, revealing precious treasures. [11] He dams up the underground streams until they cease seeping, and he brings out into the light what was hidden there in the darkness. [12] But where is wisdom found, and where does understanding dwell? [13] Job: No human perceives wisdom's true value, nor has she been found in the land of the living. [14] The deep says, "She is not to be seen within me." "Nor within me," says the voice of the raging sea. [15] No gold can be given in trade for wisdom, nor a sum of silver weighed out as her price. [16] She cannot be bought with all the gold of Ophir, neither with onyx nor sapphire. [17] The shimmer of gold and brightness of glass cannot compare, and no refined gold jewelry is worth her in trade. [18] Perish the mention of coral and crystal; even more than pearls is the value of wisdom. [19] Ethiopian topaz-unequal as well; even gold, unalloyed, is too paltry indeed. [20] Then from where does wisdom come? Where does understanding dwell? [21] She is hidden away from every eye, even from birds looking down from the sky. [22] Destruction and Death have both confessed, "Rumors are all we know about her." [23] God understands wisdom's path and way; her place is known to Him alone. [24] For He gazes out to the edge of the earth, sees all that falls beneath the sky overhead. [25] He lent the wind its weight and force and measured out the waters' spread. [26] When He set a limit on the rain that falls and made the thunderbolt a road to race, [27] Then He saw wisdom and made her known, He settled her and searched out for her a place. [28] And to humankind, He said, "Now, the fear of the Lord is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding."