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¹ SURELY there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined.² Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is smelted out of the stone.³ God sets an end to darkness, and knows the end of everything, the deep and dark mine and the shadow of death.⁴ They have inherited a ruined mine from an alien people; they are gone astray from the right path and their number has diminished from among men.⁵ They lay open the earth, out of which comes sustenance; and from under it is turned up material as if it were burned with fire.⁶ The stones of it are the place where sapphires are found, and it has dust of gold in its paths.⁷ There is a path which no bird knows, and the vultures eye has not seen;⁸ Wild beasts have not trodden it, nor has the lion passed by it.⁹ The miner puts forth his hand upon the hard rock to break it; he overturns the mountains from their foundations.¹⁰ He divides the rivers by his might; and his eye sees every precious thing.¹¹ He binds up the rivers that they may not overflow; and the thing that is hid, he brings forth to light.¹² But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding thereof?¹³ No man knows the treasure thereof; neither is it found except in the land of the living.

¹⁴ The depth says, It is not in me, and the sea says, It is not with me.¹⁵ It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be counted for its price.¹⁶ It cannot be exchanged with the gold of Ophir, with precious onyx or sapphire.¹⁷ The gold and the crystal cannot equal it; nor can precious pearls, jewels, and emeralds equal it.¹⁸ For the price of wisdom is above that of precious stones. Nor can colored gems, emeralds, and diamonds equal it.¹⁹ For the price of wisdom is above everything, and nothing can equal it. The pearls of Ethiopia and the topaz cannot equal it.

²⁰ Whence then comes wisdom? And where is the place of understanding?²¹ It is hid from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the fowls of the air.²² Destruction and death say, We have heard the report of it with our ears.²³ Because only God understands the way of it, and he knows the place thereof.²⁴ For he looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole heaven;²⁵ For he made a weight for the wind, and meted it out by the measure.²⁶ He made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning and the thunder.²⁷ Then he saw it, and declared it; he measured it, yea, and searched it out.²⁸ And to man he said, Behold, the reverence of God, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.