[1] "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. [20] "So where does wisdom come from, and where does understanding live? [21] It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing, even from the birds of the air. [22] The places of destruction and death say, 'We have heard reports about it.' [23] Only God understands the way to wisdom, and he alone knows where it lives, [24] because he looks to the farthest parts of the earth and sees everything under the sky. [25] When God gave power to the wind and measured the water, [26] when he made rules for the rain and set a path for a thunderstorm to follow, [27] then he looked at wisdom and decided its worth; he set wisdom up and tested it. [28] Then he said to humans, 'The fear of the Lord is wisdom; to stay away from evil is understanding.'"
