Job 28:12–28

^12g“But where shall wisdom be found?

And where is the place of understanding?

¹³Man does not know its worth,

and it is not found in ^hthe land of the living.

¹⁴ⁱThe deep says, ‘It is not in me,’

and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’

¹⁵It ^jcannot be bought for gold,

and silver cannot be weighed as its price.

¹⁶It cannot be valued in ^kthe gold of ^lOphir,

in precious ^monyx or ⁿsapphire.

¹⁷Gold and glass cannot equal it,

nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.

¹⁸No mention shall be made of ^ocoral or of crystal;

the price of wisdom is above ^oppearls.

^19qThe topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,

nor can it be valued in pure gold.

²⁰“From where, then, does wisdom come?

And where is the place of understanding?

²¹It is hidden from the eyes of ^rall living

and concealed from the birds of the air.

^22sAbaddon and Death say,

‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

^23t“God understands the way to it,

and he knows its place.

²⁴For he ^ulooks to the ends of the earth

and sees everything under the heavens.

²⁵When he ^vgave to the wind its weight

and apportioned the waters by measure,

²⁶when he made a decree for the rain

and ^wa way for the lightning of the thunder,

²⁷then he saw it and declared it;

he established it, and searched it out.

²⁸And he said to man,

‘Behold, ^xthe fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,

and to ^yturn away from evil is understanding.’ ”