Job 28:1-28

  • Job contrasts earth’s treasures with wisdom (1-28)

    • Man’s mining efforts (1-11)

    • Wisdom worth more than pearls (18)

    • Fear of Jehovah is true wisdom (28)

28  “There is a place to mine silverAnd a place for gold that they refine;+   Iron is taken from the ground,And copper is smelted* from rocks.+   Man conquers the darkness;He probes to the limit in the gloom and darkness,Searching for ore.*   He sinks a shaft far from where people reside,In forgotten places, far from where people walk;Some men descend and swing suspended.   Food grows on top of the earth;But below, there is an upheaval as if by fire.*   There in the stones is sapphire,And the dust contains gold.   No bird of prey knows the path to it;The eye of a black kite has not seen it.   No majestic beasts have trodden on it;The young lion has not prowled there.   Man strikes the flinty rock with his hand;He overturns the mountains at their foundation. 10  He cuts water channels+ in the rock;His eyes spot every precious thing. 11  He dams up the sources of riversAnd brings what was hidden to the light. 12  But wisdom—where can it be found,+And where is the source of understanding?+ 13  No man recognizes its value,+And it cannot be found in the land of the living. 14  The deep waters say, ‘It is not in me!’ And the sea says, ‘It is not with me!’+ 15  It cannot be bought with pure gold;Nor can silver be weighed out in exchange for it.+ 16  It cannot be bought with gold of Oʹphir+Nor with rare onyx and sapphire. 17  Gold and glass cannot be compared to it;Nor can a vessel of fine* gold be exchanged for it.+ 18  Coral and crystal are not worthy of mention,+For a bagful of wisdom is worth more than one full of pearls. 19  The topaz+ of Cush cannot be compared to it;It cannot be purchased even with pure gold. 20  But from where does wisdom come,And where is the source of understanding?+ 21  It has been hidden from the eyes of every living thing+And concealed from the birds of the heavens. 22  Destruction and death say,‘Our ears have heard only a report of it.’ 23  God understands the way to find it;He alone knows where it resides,+ 24  For he looks to the ends of the earth,And he sees everything under the heavens.+ 25  When he set the force* of the wind+And measured out the waters,+ 26  When he made a regulation for the rain+And a path for the thunderous storm cloud,+ 27  Then he saw wisdom and explained it;He established and tested it. 28  And he said to man: ‘Look! The fear of Jehovah—that is wisdom,+And to turn away from bad is understanding.’”+


Lit., “poured.”
Lit., “stone.”
Apparently a reference to mining operations.
Or “refined.”
Lit., “weight.”