There is certainly a mine for silver,
And a place for gold to be refined.

Iron is taken out of the earth,
And copper is smelted from rock.

The miner sets an end to the darkness,
And to the very end he searches out
The stones of deep darkness and of  ¹gloom.

He breaks open a shaft apart from where men dwell;
They are forgotten by the foot;
They are suspended apart from men, they sway about.

The earth — from it comes forth food,
Yet underneath it, it is turned up as it were by fire.

Its stones are the place of sapphires,
And its dust has gold.

It is a path known by no bird of prey,
And the falcon's eye has not seen it.

The proud beasts have not trodden it;
The fierce lion does not pass along it.

 ¹The miner sends forth his hand into the flinty rock;
He overturns the mountains by its roots.

He cuts out channels in the rocks,
And his eye sees every precious thing.

He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle,
And that which is hidden he brings out to the light.

But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?

Man does not know its price,
Nor is it found in the land of the living.

The deep says, It is not in me;
And the sea says, It is not with me.

Rare gold cannot be given for it,
Nor can silver be weighed out for its price.

It cannot be balanced with the gold of Ophir,
With precious onyx or with sapphire.

Gold and glass cannot compare with it,
Nor can vessels of fine gold be exchanged for it.

Coral and crystal cannot be mentioned with it;
Indeed the acquisition of wisdom is above that of pearls.

The topaz of  ¹Cush cannot compare with it,
Nor can it be balanced with pure gold.

From where then does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?

For it is hidden from the eyes of all living
And concealed from the birds of heaven.

 ¹Abaddon and Death say,
We have heard a report of it with our ears.

God understands the way to it;
He knows its place.

For He sees to the ends of the earth;
He beholds all that is under heaven.

When He gave weight to the wind
And apportioned the water by measure,

When He made a decree for the rain
And a way for the thunderbolt;

Then He saw it and declared it;
He established it and even searched it out.

And He said to man,
Indeed, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
And to depart from evil is understanding.

Then Job again took up his discourse and said,

Oh that I were as in the months of old,
As in the days when God watched over me;

When His lamp shone over my head,
And by His light I walked through darkness;

As I was in the days of my  ¹prime,
When intimate counsel with God was over my tent;

When the Almighty was yet with me,
And my children were around me;

When my steps were bathed in milk,
And the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

When I went out to the gate of the city,
When I prepared my seat in the square,

The young men saw me and hid themselves,
And the aged rose up and stood.

Princes refrained from talking
And laid their hand over their mouth.

The voice of the nobles was hushed,
And their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

For when the ear heard me, it blessed me;
And when the eye saw me, it bore witness to me;

Because I delivered the poor man who cried out,
And the orphan who had no one to help him.

The blessing of him who was perishing came upon me,
And I made the widow's heart shout for joy.

I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
My justice was like a robe and a turban.

I was eyes to the blind,
And I was feet to the lame.

I was a father to the needy,
And the cause of him whom I did not know I investigated.

I broke the jaws of the unjust
And made him drop the prey from his teeth.

Then I said, I will die in my nest,
And I will multiply my days like the sand.

My root is spread out to the water,
And dew abides on my branch at night.

My glory is always new with me,
And my bow is renewed in my hand.

Men listened to me and waited,
And they were silent for my counsel.

After my words they spoke not again,
And my speech distilled like dew upon them.

And they waited for me as for the rain,
And they opened their mouth wide as for the late rain.

I smiled on them — they could not believe it;
And they did not cast down the light of my countenance.

I chose the way for them and sat as chief,
And I dwelt as a king among the troops,
As one who comforts those who mourn.

But now those who are younger than I
Hold me in derision,
Those whose fathers I disdained
To put with the dogs of my flock.

Indeed, what good is the strength of their hands to me?
Their vigor has perished from them.

Withered up through want and hunger,
They gnaw at the dry ground,
A gloom of waste and desolation.

They pick the mallow upon the bushes,
And the roots of the broom shrub are their food.

They are driven from the company of men;
Men cry after them as after a thief;

So that they must dwell in the most dreadful ravines,
In caves of the earth and in the rocks.

Among the bushes they bray;
Under the nettles they huddle.

Sons of fools, indeed sons of nameless men,
They have been stricken from the land.

And now I have become their song,
And I am a byword to them.

They abhor me; they stand aloof from me;
And they do not withhold their spit from my face.

For He has loosened  ¹my cord and afflicted me;
Therefore they have cast off restraint in my presence.

At my right hand a brood rises up;
They send my feet running
And cast up against me their ways of destruction.

They break up my path;
They promote my calamity,
Though there is no profit to them.

As through a wide breach they come in;
Amid the ruin they roll on.

Terrors are turned upon me;
My honor is pursued as by a wind,
And my prosperity passes away like a cloud.

And now my soul is poured out within me;
Days of affliction have taken hold of me.

The night rends my bones from me,
And my gnawing pains do not rest.

With great force my garments are distorted;
It binds me like the collar of my coat.

He has cast me into the mire,
And I am like dust and ashes.

I cry unto You, but You do not answer me;
I stand up, and You stare at me.

You have turned to become cruel to me;
With the might of Your hand You pursue me.

You lift me up into the wind; You make me ride on it;
And You dissolve me in the storm.

For I know that You will bring me into death,
And to the house appointed for all living.

Nevertheless does not a man put forth his hand when he falls,
Or because of his disaster therefore cry out?

Did I not weep for him who had hard days?
Was my soul not grieved for the needy?

When I expected good, evil came;
And when I waited for light, darkness came.

My inward parts are in turmoil and are not still;
Days of affliction have drawn near to me.

I go about in sunless mourning.
I rise up in the congregation; I cry for help.

I am a brother to jackals
And a companion to ostriches.

My skin is black and falling from me,
And my bones burn with heat.

My lyre has become mourning,
And my pipe, the voice of those who weep.