28:1 “There are mines for silver and places where gold is refined;
28:2 iron is extracted from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore.
28:3 Miners conquer the darkness and dig as far in as they can, to the ore in gloom and deep darkness.
28:4 There where no one lives, they break open a shaft; the feet passing over are oblivious to them; far from people, suspended in space, they swing to and fro.
28:5 “While the earth is [peacefully] yielding bread, underneath, it is being convulsed as if by fire;
28:6 its rocks have veins of sapphire, and there are flecks of gold.
28:7 Birds of prey don’t know that path, no falcon’s eye has seen it,
28:8 the proud beasts have never set foot on it, no lion has ever passed over it.
28:9 “[The miner] attacks the flint, overturns mountains at their roots,
28:10 and cuts out galleries in the rock, all the while watching for something of value.
28:11 He dams up streams to keep them from flooding, and brings what was hidden out into the light.
28:12 “But where can wisdom be found? Where is the source of understanding?
28:13 No one knows its value, and it can’t be found in the land of the living.
28:14 The deep says, ‘It isn’t in me,’ and the sea says, ‘It isn’t with me.’
28:15 It can’t be obtained with gold, nor can silver be weighed out to buy it.
28:16 It can’t be purchased with choice gold from Ofir, or with precious onyx or sapphires.
28:17 Neither gold nor glass can be compared with it; nor can it be exchanged for a bowl of fine gold,
28:18 let alone coral or crystal; for indeed, the price of wisdom is above that of pearls.
28:19 It can’t be compared with Ethiopian topaz, and it can’t be valued with pure gold.
28:20 “So where does wisdom come from? where is the source of understanding,
28:21 inasmuch as it is hidden from the eyes of all living and kept secret from the birds flying around in the sky?
28:22 Destruction and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor about it with our ears.’
28:23 “God understands its way, and he knows its place.
28:24 For he can see to the ends of the earth and view everything under heaven.
28:25 When he determined the force of the wind and parceled out water by measure,
28:26 when he made a law for the rain and cleared a path for the thunderbolts;
28:27 then he saw [wisdom] and declared it, yes, he set it up and searched it out.
28:28 And to human beings he said, ‘Look, fear of Adonai is wisdom! Shunning evil is understanding!’”
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