Job 28 - Amplified Bible(AMP)

Job Tells of Earth’s Treasures

1“Surely there is a mine for silver,

And a place where they refine gold.

2“Iron is taken out of the earth,

And copper is smelted from the stone ore.

3“Man puts an end to darkness,

And to the farthest bounds he searches out

The rock buried in gloom and deep shadow.

4“He breaks open (mine) shafts far away from where people live,

[In places] forgotten by the foot;

They dangle and hang away from men.

5“[As for] the earth, out of it comes food,

But underneath it is turned over as fire.

6“Its stones are the bed of sapphires;

It holds dust of gold.

7“The path no bird of prey knows,

And the falcon’s eye has not caught sight of it.

8“The proud beasts have not walked on it,

Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.

9“Man puts his hand on the flinty rock;

He overturns the mountains at the base.

10“He cuts out channels and passages among the rocks;

And his eye sees every precious thing.

11“Man dams up the streams from flowing,

And what is hidden he brings out to the light.

The Search for Wisdom Is Harder

12¶“But where can wisdom be found?

And where is the place of understanding?

13“Man does not know the value of it;

Nor is it 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“It cannot be obtained for pure gold,

Nor can silver be weighed as its price.

16“It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,

In the precious onyx or beryl, or the sapphire.

17“Gold and glass cannot equal wisdom,

Nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold.

18“No mention of coral and crystal can be made;

For the possession of wisdom is even above rubies or pearls.

19“The topaz of Ethiopia cannot compare with it,

Nor can it be valued in pure gold.

20“From where then does wisdom come?

And where is the place of understanding?

21“It is hidden from the eyes of all the living

And concealed from the birds of the heavens.

22“Abaddon (the place of destruction) and Death say,

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

23¶“God understands the way

And He knows its place.

24“For He looks to the ends of the earth

And sees everything under the heavens.

25“When He gave weight and pressure to the wind

And allotted the waters by measure,

26When He made a limit for the rain

And a way for the thunderbolt,

27Then He saw wisdom and declared it;

He established it and searched it out.

28“But to man He said, ‘Behold, the reverential and worshipful fear of the Lord—that is wisdom;

And to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”