28 ¹Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they fine it. ²Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone. ³He setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all perfection: the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death. ⁴The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men. ⁵As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire. ⁶The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and it hath dust of gold. ⁷There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen: ⁸The lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it. ⁹He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots. ¹⁰He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing. ¹¹He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light. ¹²But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? ¹³Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living. ¹⁴The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me. ¹⁵It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. ¹⁶It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. ¹⁷The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. ¹⁸No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies. ¹⁹The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold. ²⁰Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding? ²¹Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air. ²²Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears. ²³God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof. ²⁴For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven; ²⁵To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure. ²⁶When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder: ²⁷Then did he see it, and declare it; he prepared it, yea, and searched it out. ²⁸And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the LORD, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

29 ¹Moreover Job continued his parable, and said, ²Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; ³When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness; ⁴As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle; ⁵When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me; ⁶When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil; ⁷When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street! ⁸The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up. ⁹The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. ¹⁰The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth. ¹¹When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me: ¹²Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. ¹³The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. ¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. ¹⁵I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. ¹⁶I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out. ¹⁷And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth. ¹⁸Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand. ¹⁹My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch. ²⁰My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my hand. ²¹Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel. ²²After my words they spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them. ²³And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain. ²⁴If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they cast not down. ²⁵I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth the mourners.