1 [“] Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for the gold [that] they refine.10 In the rocks he cuts out channels, and his eye sees every precious thing.11 The rivers he has bound from weeping, and a hidden thing he brings to light.12 And wisdom—from where is it found? And where [is] this place of understanding?13 Man does not know its value, and it is not found in the land of the living.14 The deep says, ‘It [is] not in me,’ and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’15 Gold cannot be given for it, nor can silver be weighed [for] its price.16 It is not valued with the gold of Ophir, with precious onyx or sapphire.17 Gold and crystal cannot equal it, or [is] its exchange a vessel of fine gold.18 Coral and quartz [are] not to be mentioned; and the acquisition of wisdom is more than rubies.19 The topaz of Cush cannot equal it, nor it is valued in pure gold.2 Iron is taken from the dust, and [from] rock copper is smelted.20 And the wisdom, from where does it come? And where [is] this place of understanding?21 And is it hidden from the eyes of every living [thing]; even from the birds of the heavens it is concealed.22 Abaddon and Death say, ‘We have heard a report of it with our ears.’23 God has understood its way, and He has known its place.24 For He looks to the ends of the earth, [and] He sees under all the heavens,25 to make for the wind a weight, and He portioned out the waters by measure,26 in His making a limit for the rain, and a path for the flash of the thunders—27 then He saw and recounted it; He established it and also searched it out.28 And He said to the man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord—that [is] wisdom, and the turning aside from evil [is] understanding.’”3 An end he has set for the darkness, yet to every limit he is searching out, a stone in darkness and the shadow of death.4 He opens a shaft away from habitation; those forgotten by the foot, they hang down away from man, and they sway.5 The earth, from which bread comes forth, and underneath is turned as [by] fire—6 a place of sapphire [are] its stones, and dust of gold [is] unto it.7 The path no bird of prey knows, and no eye of a falcon has seen it.8 The sons of pride have not trodden it, and the lion has not passed over it.9 Against the flinty rock he stretched out his hand; he overturns the hills from the root.