1 “Surely there is a mine for silver,

2 Iron is taken out of the earth,

3 Man sets an end to darkness,

4 He breaks open a shaft away from where people live.

5 As for the earth, out of it comes bread.

6 Sapphires come from its rocks.

7 That path no bird of prey knows,

8 The proud animals have not trodden it,

9 He puts his hand on the flinty rock,

10 He cuts out channels among the rocks.

11 He binds the streams that they don’t trickle.

12 “But where will wisdom be found?

13 Man doesn’t know its price,

14 The deep says, ‘It isn’t in me.’

15 It can’t be gotten for gold,

16 It can’t be valued with the gold of Ophir,

17 Gold and glass can’t equal it,

18 No mention will be made of coral or of crystal.

19 The topaz of Ethiopia will not equal it.

20 Where then does wisdom come from?

21 Seeing it is hidden from the eyes of all living,

22 Destruction and Death say,

23 “God understands its way,

24 For he looks to the ends of the earth,

25 He establishes the force of the wind.

26 When he made a decree for the rain,

27 then he saw it, and declared it.

28 To man he said,