Job 28

Where Shall Wisdom Be Found? Not in the Mines

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Where Is Wisdom Found?

28:1“For silver has a place from which it comes,
and gold a place from which it is filtered.

28:2For iron comes from earth,
and copper is quarried like stone.

28:3He set an order for darkness,
and He examines every limit:
stone, darkness and a shadow of death,

28:4a torrent’s breach away from dust;
but those forgetting a righteous road grew weak among mortals.

28:5Earth—from it bread will come,
and beneath it was turned as though by fire.

28:6Its stones are the place of sappheiros,
and a mound—gold belongs to it.

28:7A path no bird knew,
that a vulture’s eye did not glimpse,

28:8that sons of the arrogant did not tread,
nor a lion pass over—

28:9He stretched His hand against sheer rock
and overturned mountains from their roots.

28:10He broke open the eddies of rivers,
and my eye saw every precious thing.

28:11He uncovered the depths of rivers
and showed His own power in the light.

28:12But where was wisdom found,
and what is the place of knowledge?

28:13A mortal does not know its way,
and it will certainly not be found among humans.

28:14The abyss said, ‘It is not in me,’
and the sea said, ‘It is not with me.’

28:15No one will give locked-up treasure in exchange for it,
nor will silver be weighed as its exchange.

28:16It will not be weighed together with Ophir gold,
precious onyx or sappheiros.

28:17Gold and glass will not equal it,
nor will golden vessels be its exchange.

28:18Lofty things and gabis will not be mentioned;
draw wisdom beyond the innermost things.

28:19Ethiopian topazion will not equal it;
it will not be weighed together with pure gold.

28:20But where was wisdom found,
and what is the place of understanding?

28:21It has escaped every human
and was hidden from the birds of heaven.

28:22Destruction and Death said,
‘We have heard its renown.’

28:23God established its way well,
and He knows its place.

28:24For He observes the whole realm under heaven,
knowing everything in the earth that He made:

28:25the weight of winds
and measures of water.

28:26when He acted in this way, He counted rain
and a path for sounds amid a shaking.

28:27Then He saw wisdom and expounded it;
having prepared it, He traced it out.

28:28And He said to a human,
‘Look, reverence for God is wisdom,
and abstaining from evils is knowledge.’

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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.