Online Bible

Job Tells of Earth’s Treasures

“Certainly there is a ¹mine for silverAnd a place ²for refining gold.2 “Iron is taken from the dust,And copper is smelted from rock.3 “Man puts an end to darkness,And ^ato the farthest limit he searches outThe rock in gloom and deep shadow.4 “He ¹sinks a shaft away from ²inhabited areas,Forgotten by the foot;They hang and swing, away from people.5 “¹From the earth comes food,And underneath, it is turned over like fire.6 “Its rocks are the ¹source of sapphires,And its dust contains gold.7 “No bird of prey knows the path,Nor has the falcon’s eye caught sight of it.8 “The ¹proud animals have not trodden it,Nor has the lion passed over it.9 “He puts his hand on the flint;He overturns the mountains at the ¹base.10 “He carves out channels through the rocks,And his eye sees anything precious.11 “He dams up the streams from ¹flowing,And brings to light what is hidden.

The Search for Wisdom Is Harder

12 “But ^awhere can wisdom be found?And where is the place of understanding?13 “^aMankind does not know its value,Nor is it found in the land of the living.14 “The ocean depth says, ‘It is not in me’;And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’15 “^aPure gold cannot be given in exchange for it,Nor can silver be weighed as its price.16 “It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,In precious onyx, or sapphire.17 “^aGold or glass cannot equal it,Nor can it be exchanged for articles of pure gold.18 “Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned;And the acquisition of ^awisdom is more valuable than pearls.19 “The topaz of ¹Cush cannot equal it,Nor can it be valued in ^apure gold.20 “^aWhere then does wisdom come from?And where is this place of understanding?21 “It is hidden from the eyes of every living creature,And concealed from the birds of the sky.22 “¹^aAbaddon and Death say,‘With our ears we have heard a report of it.’

23 “^aGod understands its way,And He knows its place.24 “For He ^alooks to the ends of the earth;He sees everything under the heavens.25 “When He imparted ^aweight to the wind,And ^bassessed the waters by measure,26 When He made a ^alimit for the rain,And a course for the ^bthunderbolt,27 Then He saw it and declared it;He established it and also searched it out.28 “And to mankind He said, ‘Behold, the ^afear of the Lord, that is wisdom;And to turn away from evil is understanding.’”