(As for Wisdom-whence cometh she? Understanding-where hath she her home?)

28 For a mine there is for the silver,

And a place where the gold is refined.

2 Iron is taken from dust,

And copper is smelted from stone.

3 Man explores the dark to its limits,

Seeks stones fromthe blackest gloom.

4 He breaketh a shaft through the ground;

Forgotten, they hang without foothold;

They swing to and fro far from men.

5 From the surface of earth cometh bread,

While, beneath, it is raked as by fire.

6 Her stones are the home of the sapphire;

The dust thereof is gold.

7 The pathway is strange to the vulture,

Unseen by the eye of the hawk,

8 By the sons of pride untrodden,

Nor ever by fierce lion skirted.

9 He puts forth his hand on the rock;

At their roots he o’erturneth the mountains.

10a Channels he cuts in the rocks,

11a And he bindeth the streams that they weep not.

10b Each precious thing his eye seeth;

11b He bringeth the secret to light.

12 But Wisdom – whence cometh she?

Understanding – where hath she her home?

13 The way to her no man knoweth;

In the land of the living none finds her.

14 The deep saith, "She is not in me";

And the sea saith, "She is not in me."

15 No fine gold for her can be given,

Nor silver be paid as her price.

16 Not in Ophir gold can she be valued,

In precious onyx or sapphire.

17 Gold and clear glass are no match for her,

Jewels of gold no exchange for her.

18 Speak no of coral or crystal;

More precious than rubies is Wisdom.

19 The topaz of Cush is no match for her.

In pure gold she cannot be valued.

20 But Wisdom – whence cometh she?

Understanding – where hath she her home?

21 She is hid from the eyes of all living,

Concealed from the birds of the air.

22 Abaddon and Death declare,

"A rumour of her we have heard."

23 But the way to her God understandeth,

And He alone knoweth her home.

24 For He looks to the ends of the earth

And all things under heaven He beholds.

25 when He settled the weight of the wind

And meted the waters by measure,

26 Created a law for the rain,

And a path for the flash of the lightning,

27 Even then did He see and declare her,

Establish and search her out.

28 And He said unto man, "Behold!

The fear of Me – that is Wisdom,

And turning from wrong – Understanding."