[1] “There are mines where people get silver and places where people melt gold to make it pure.
[2] Men dig iron from the ground. Copper is melted from the rocks.
[3] Workers carry lights into the caves. They search deep into the caves. They look for rocks in the deep darkness.
[4] Workers dig deep into the ground, following the veins of ore. They go deep down into the ground far away from where people live, down where no person has been before. They hang ˻from ropes far below ground˼, far away from other men.
[5] Food grows on the ground above. But underground, ˻it is different˼— as if everything were melted by fire.
[6] Underground there are sapphires and grains of pure gold.
[7] Wild birds know nothing about the paths under the ground. No falcon has ever seen those dark paths.
[8] Wild animals haven’t walked those paths. Lions haven’t traveled that way.
[9] Workers dig the hardest rocks. Those workers dig away at the mountains and make them bare.
[10] Workers cut tunnels through the rocks. They see all the rock’s treasures.
[11] The workers make dams to stop the water. They bring hidden things out into the light.
[12] “But where can a person find wisdom? Where can we go to find understanding?
[13] We don’t know how valuable wisdom is. People on earth ˻can’t dig in the ground˼ and find wisdom.
[14] The deep ocean says, 'Wisdom is not here with me.’ The sea says, 'Wisdom is not here with me.’
[15] You can’t buy wisdom with even the purest gold. There isn’t enough silver in the world to buy wisdom.
[16] You can’t buy wisdom with gold from Ophir or precious onyx or sapphires.
[17] Wisdom is worth more than gold or crystal. Expensive jewels set in gold can’t buy wisdom.
[18] Wisdom is worth more than coral and jasper. Wisdom is more precious than rubies.
[19] The topaz from the country of Ethiopia is not as precious as wisdom. You can’t buy wisdom with pure gold.
[20] “So, where does wisdom come from? Where can we find understanding?
[21] Wisdom is hidden from every living thing on earth. Even birds in the sky can’t see wisdom.
[22] Death and destruction say, 'We haven’t found wisdom We have only heard rumors about it.’
[23] “Only God knows the way to wisdom. Only God knows where wisdom is.
[24] God can see to the very ends of the earth. God sees everything under the sky.
[25] God gave the wind its power. God decided how big to make the oceans.
[26] God decided where to send the rain, and where the thunderstorms should go.
[27] At that time God saw wisdom and thought about it. God saw how much wisdom was worth. And God approved of wisdom.
[28] And God said to people, ”Fear and respect the Lord— that is wisdom. Don’t do evil things— that is understanding.”