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Where Can Wisdom Be Found?

¹ Surely there is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined.² Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore.³ Man puts an end to the darkness; he probes the farthest recesses for ore in deepest darkness.⁴ Far from human habitation he cuts a shaft in places forgotten by the foot of man. Far from men he dangles and sways.⁵ Food may come from the earth, but from below it is transformed as by fire.⁶ Its rocks are the source of sapphires, containing flecks of gold.⁷ No bird of prey knows that path; no falcon’s eye has seen it.⁸ Proud beasts have never trodden it; no lion has ever prowled over it.⁹ The miner strikes the flint; he overturns mountains at their base.¹⁰ He hews out channels in the rocks, and his eyes spot every treasure.¹¹ He stops up the sources of the streams to bring what is hidden to light.¹² But where can wisdom be found, and where does understanding dwell?¹³ No man can know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living.

¹⁴ The ocean depths say, ‘It is not in me,’ while the sea declares, ‘It is not with me.’¹⁵ It cannot be bought with gold, nor its price weighed out in silver.¹⁶ It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire.¹⁷ Neither gold nor crystal can compare, nor jewels of fine gold be exchanged for it.¹⁸ Coral and quartz are unworthy of mention; the price of wisdom is beyond rubies.¹⁹ Topaz from Cush cannot compare, nor can it be valued in pure gold.

²⁰ From where then does wisdom come, and where does understanding dwell?²¹ It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing and concealed from the birds of the air.²² Abaddon^(a) and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor about it.’²³ But God understands its way, and He knows its place.²⁴ For He looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.²⁵ When God fixed the weight of the wind and measured out the waters,²⁶ when He set a limit for the rain and a path for the thunderbolt,²⁷ then He looked at wisdom and appraised it; He established it and searched it out.²⁸ And He said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”