Job Continues: Where Is Wisdom?
“Surely there is a source for silver, and a place where gold is refined.
Iron is taken out of the dust, and copper is smelted from the stone.
Men put an end to the darkness and search out to the furthest limit, the rock in gloom and deep shadow.
He breaks open a shaft far from where people live, forgotten by the foot. Far from other people, they hang and they swing back and forth.
As for the earth, out of it comes food; but underneath it is overturned as by fire.
Its rocks are the place of sapphires, and it has dust of gold.
No bird of prey knows that path, nor has the falcon’s eye seen it.
The proud animals have not walked it, nor has the fierce lion passed by there.
Man puts out his hand to the flinty rock and he overturns the mountains by the roots.
He cuts out channels among the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing.
He binds the streams so that they do not trickle, and the thing that is hidden he brings out to the light.
“But where can wisdom be found? Where is the place to find understanding?
Humans do not know its worth, nor is it found in the land of the living.
The deep says, ‘It is not in me.’ The sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
It cannot be obtained in exchange for solid gold, nor can silver be weighed for its price.
It cannot be weighed in the balances with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
Neither gold nor glass can equal it, nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold.
Coral or crystal are not worth mentioning, the price of wisdom is above jewels.
The topaz of Ethiopia can not equal it, nor can it be weighed in a balance with pure gold.
“Where then does wisdom come from? Where is the place to find understanding?
She is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the air.
Destruction and Death say, ‘We have heard a report about her with our ears.’
God understands the way to her, and it is he who knows her place,
because he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.
When he made the wind have its weight, and meted out the waters by measure,
when he made a decree for the rain and a path for the thunderstorm,
then he saw wisdom and appraised her, established her, and searched her out.
And he said to humankind, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”