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Interlude: Where Wisdom Is Found

28‘Surely there is a mine for silver,
   and a place for gold to be refined.
² Iron is taken out of the earth,
   and copper is smelted from ore.
³ Miners put^* an end to darkness,
   and search out to the farthest bound
   the ore in gloom and deep darkness.
⁴ They open shafts in a valley away from human habitation;
   they are forgotten by travellers,
   they sway suspended, remote from people.
⁵ As for the earth, out of it comes bread;
   but underneath it is turned up as by fire.
⁶ Its stones are the place of sapphires,^*
   and its dust contains gold.

⁷ ‘That path no bird of prey knows,
   and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.
⁸ The proud wild animals have not trodden it;
   the lion has not passed over it.

⁹ ‘They put their hand to the flinty rock,
   and overturn mountains by the roots.
¹⁰ They cut out channels in the rocks,
   and their eyes see every precious thing.
¹¹ The sources of the rivers they probe;^*
   hidden things they bring to light.

¹² ‘But where shall wisdom be found?
   And where is the place of understanding?
¹³ Mortals do not know the way to it,^*
   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 It cannot be bought for gold,
   and silver cannot be weighed out as its price.
¹⁶ It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
   in precious onyx or sapphire.^*
17 Gold and glass cannot equal it,
   nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
¹⁸ No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
   the price of wisdom is above pearls.
¹⁹ The chrysolite of Ethiopia^* cannot compare with it,
   nor can it be valued in pure gold.

²⁰ ‘Where then does wisdom come from?
   And where is the place of understanding?
²¹ It is hidden from the eyes of all living,
   and concealed from the birds of the air.
²² Abaddon and Death say,
   “We have heard a rumour of it with our ears.”

²³ ‘God understands the way to it,
   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 to the wind its weight,
   and apportioned out the waters by measure;
²⁶ when he made a decree for the rain,
   and a way for the thunderbolt;
²⁷ then he saw it and declared it;
   he established it, and searched it out.
²⁸ And he said to humankind,
“Truly, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
   and to depart from evil is understanding.” ’

The Works of God in Nature

¹⁵ I will now call to mind the works of the Lord,
   and will declare what I have seen.
By the word of the Lord his works are made;
   and all his creatures do his will.^*
16 The sun looks down on everything with its light,
   and the work of the Lord is full of his glory.
¹⁷ The Lord has not empowered even his holy ones
   to recount all his marvellous works,
which the Lord the Almighty has established
   so that the universe may stand firm in his glory.
¹⁸ He searches out the abyss and the human heart;
   he understands their innermost secrets.
For the Most High knows all that may be known;
   he sees from of old the things that are to come.^*
19 He discloses what has been and what is to be,
   and he reveals the traces of hidden things.
²⁰ No thought escapes him,
   and nothing is hidden from him.
²¹ He has set in order the splendours of his wisdom;
   he is from all eternity one and the same.
Nothing can be added or taken away,
   and he needs no one to be his counsellor.
²² How desirable are all his works,
   and how sparkling they are to see!^*
23 All these things live and remain for ever;
   each creature is preserved to meet a particular need.^*
24 All things come in pairs, one opposite to the other,
   and he has made nothing incomplete.
²⁵ Each supplements the virtues of the other.
   Who could ever tire of seeing his glory?