Job 28  Contemporary English Version

28 Gold and silver are mined,
    then purified;
² the same is done
    with iron and copper.
³ Miners carry lanterns
deep into the darkness
    to search for these metals.
⁴ They dig tunnels
in distant, unknown places,
    where they dangle by ropes.
⁵ Far beneath the grain fields,
    fires are built
to break loose those rocks
⁶     that have jewels or gold.^[a]

^12 (A) But where is wisdom found?
^{13     (B)} No human knows the way.^[c]
14 Nor can it be discovered
    in the deepest sea.
* ¹⁵ It is worth much more
than silver or pure gold
¹⁶     or precious stones.
¹⁷ Nothing is its equal—
    not gold or costly glass.^[d]
18 Wisdom is worth much more than
    coral, jasper,^[e] or rubies.
¹⁹ All the topaz^[f] of Ethiopia^[g]
and the finest gold
    cannot compare with it.
²⁰ Where then is wisdom?
²¹ It is hidden from human eyes
    and even from birds.
²² Death and destruction
have merely heard rumors
    about where it is found.
^23 (C) God is the only one who knows
    the way to wisdom;
²⁴ he alone sees everything
    beneath the heavens.
²⁵ When God divided out
    the wind and the water,
²⁶ and when he decided the path
    for rain and lightning,
^27 (D) he also determined the truth
    and defined wisdom.
^28 (E) God told us, “Wisdom means
that you respect me, the Lord,
    and turn from sin.”