Job 28 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Job Continues: Where Is Wisdom?

Job 28:1“Surely there is a mine for silver,
and a place for gold that they refine.

Job 28:2Iron is taken out of the earth,
and copper is smelted from the ore.

Job 28:3Man puts an end to darkness
and searches out to the farthest limit
the ore in gloom and deep darkness.

Job 28:4He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives;
they are forgotten by travelers;
they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro.

Job 28:5

Job 28:5As for the earth, out of it comes bread,
but underneath it is turned up as by fire.

Job 28:6

Job 28:6Its stones are the place of sapphires,[fn]
and it has dust of gold.

Job 28:7

Job 28:7“That path no bird of prey knows,
and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.

Job 28:8

Job 28:8The proud beasts have not trodden it;
the lion has not passed over it.

Job 28:9

Job 28:9“Man puts his hand to the flinty rock
and overturns mountains by the roots.

Job 28:10

Job 28:10He cuts out channels in the rocks,
and his eye sees every precious thing.

Job 28:11

Job 28:11He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle,
and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.

Job 28:12

Job 28:12“But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?

Job 28:13

Job 28:13Man does not know its worth,
and it is not found in the land of the living.

Job 28:14

Job 28:14The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’

Job 28:15

Job 28:15It cannot be bought for gold,
and silver cannot be weighed as its price.

Job 28:16

Job 28:16It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
in precious onyx or sapphire.

Job 28:17

Job 28:17Gold and glass cannot equal it,
nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.

Job 28:18

Job 28:18No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
the price of wisdom is above pearls.

Job 28:19

Job 28:19The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
nor can it be valued in pure gold.

Job 28:20

Job 28:20“From where, then, does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?

Job 28:21

Job 28:21It is hidden from the eyes of all living
and concealed from the birds of the air.

Job 28:22

Job 28:22Abaddon and Death say,
‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

Job 28:23

Job 28:23“God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place.

Job 28:24

Job 28:24For he looks to the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.

Job 28:25

Job 28:25When he gave to the wind its weight
and apportioned the waters by measure,

Job 28:26

Job 28:26when he made a decree for the rain
and a way for the lightning of the thunder,

Job 28:27

Job 28:27then he saw it and declared it;
he established it, and searched it out.

Job 28:28

Job 28:28And he said to man,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(28:6)

Or lapis lazuli; also verse 16

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