1“Surely there is a mine for silver,
2Iron is taken out of the earth,
3Man sets an end to darkness,
4He breaks open a shaft away from where people live.
5As for the earth, out of it comes bread.
6Sapphires come from its rocks.
7That path no bird of prey knows,
8The proud animals have not trodden it,
9He puts his hand on the flinty rock,
10He cuts out channels among the rocks.
11He binds the streams that they don’t trickle.
12“But where will wisdom be found?
13Man doesn’t know its price,
14The deep says, ‘It isn’t in me.’
15It can’t be gotten for gold,
16It can’t be valued with the gold of Ophir,
17Gold and glass can’t equal it,
18No mention will be made of coral or of crystal.
19The topaz of Ethiopia will not equal it.
20Where then does wisdom come from?
21Seeing it is hidden from the eyes of all living,
22Destruction and Death say,
23“God understands its way,
24For he looks to the ends of the earth,
25He establishes the force of the wind.
26When he made a decree for the rain,
27then he saw it, and declared it.
28To man he said,