Wisdom belongs to God alone
Silver has its mines,
and gold a place for refining.
Iron is extracted from the earth,
the smelted rocks yield copper.
Man makes an end of darkness
when he pierces to the uttermost depths
the black and lightless rock.
Mines the lamp-folk dig
in places where there is no foothold,
and hang suspended far from mankind.
That earth from which bread comes
is ravaged underground by fire.
Down there, the rocks are set with sapphires,
full of spangles of gold.
Down there is a path unknown to birds of prey,
unseen by the eye of any vulture;
a path not trodden by the lordly beasts,
where no lion ever walked.
Man attacks its flinty sides,
upturning mountains by their roots,
driving tunnels through the rocks,
on the watch for anything precious.
He explores the sources of rivers,
and brings to daylight secrets that were hidden.
But tell me, where does wisdom come from?
Where is understanding to be found?
The road to it is still unknown to man,
not to be found in the land of the living.
‘It is not in me’ says the Abyss;
It cannot be bought with solid gold,
not paid for with any weight of silver,
nor be priced by the standard of the gold of Ophir,
or of precious onyx or sapphire.
No gold, no glass can match it in value,
nor for a fine gold vase can it be bartered.
Nor is there need to mention coral, nor crystal;
beside wisdom pearls are not worth the fishing.
Topaz from Cush is worthless in comparison,
and gold, even refined, is valueless.
But tell me, where does wisdom come from?
Where is understanding to be found?
It is outside the knowledge of every living thing,
hidden from the birds in the sky.
Perdition and Death can only say,
‘We have heard reports of it.’
God alone has traced its path
and found out where it lives.
(For he sees to the ends of the earth,
and observes all that lies under heaven.)
When he willed to give weight to the wind
and measured out the waters with a gauge,
when he made the laws and rules for the rain
and mapped a route for thunderclaps to follow,
then he had it in sight, and cast its worth,
assessed it, fathomed it.
And he said to man,
‘Wisdom? It is fear of the Lord.
Understanding? – avoidance of evil.’
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