Job 28

Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from stone. Man puts an end to darkness and searches to the farthest limit for stone in deep gloom and the shadow of death. He breaks open a shaft far from habitation;
forgotten by passing feet, they hang and sway far from men. From the earth comes bread, but beneath, it is overturned as by fire. Its stones are a place of sapphires, and it has dust of gold. There is a path no bird of prey knows, nor has a falcon's eye seen it. The proud beasts have not trodden it, nor has a lion passed over it. He stretches out his hand against the flint and overturns mountains at the root. He cuts channels through the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing. He binds up rivers so they do not weep, and brings what is hidden to light. But where can wisdom be found?
Where is the place of understanding? A mortal does not know its value, 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.’ Fine gold cannot be given in exchange for it, nor can silver be weighed out as its price. It cannot be weighed against the gold of Ophir, against precious onyx or sapphire. Gold and glass cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for objects of pure gold. No mention need be made of coral or crystal;
acquiring wisdom is beyond pearls. Topaz from Cush cannot equal it;
it cannot be weighed against pure gold. From where, then, does wisdom come?
Where is the place of understanding? It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing and concealed from the birds of the heavens. Abaddon and death say, ‘With our ears we have heard a report of it.’ God understands its way, and he knows its place, for he looks to the ends of the earth and sees under all the heavens. When he gave weight to the wind and measured out the waters, when he made a decree for the rain and a path for the lightning of thunder, then he saw it and declared it;
he established it and also searched it out. And he said to man, ‘Look, the fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to turn from evil is understanding.’”

Rights and attribution