Job 28:4
The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men. The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men.
The book of Job is thought to be the oldest book in the Bible, conjectured to have been written by Moses when he was in the land of Midian, and the oldest of all poetical books come down to us. Within that book the verse falls in chapters 4 to 31, the debate between Job and his three friends on the subject of his afflictions, distinct from the prologue in chapters 1 and 2, the epilogue in chapter 42:7-17, the speeches of Elihu in chapters 32 to 37, and the speeches of the Lord out of the storm-cloud. It belongs to Job's discourse on wisdom, in which he describes the power and wisdom of God and praises God's wisdom, which His children learn by walking in the fear of Him.
Its setting is a mining passage showing that there is a place for everything, a place where everything may be found: silver has a vein, gold has a place where it is refined, iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is melted out of stone. This shows what man knows and can do in searching out metals such as iron and copper and silver and gold. The verse itself portrays miners breaking open the earth in shafts forgotten and far from habitation and human paths. There they cut out channels among the rocks and restrain and divert streams so they do not flow, with the waters dried up and gone away from men and removed from people's reach.
The verse thus illustrates a hidden, painstaking search for what lies beneath the surface. It pictures the Bible as a mine full of precious ore holding inestimable treasures that are not valued, not searched, and therefore not discovered unless dug out. Despite that mastery, man does not know the place of wisdom: wisdom is not found in those mining places, the depth and the sea say it is not in them, and it is hidden from the eyes of all living. Wisdom cannot be found in the sea and cannot be gotten for gold, silver, jewels of fine gold, coral, pearls, or rubies, and no wealth of the world can equal it.
God understands the way of wisdom and brings it within man's reach in the truth that wisdom is the fear of the Lord and departing from evil is understanding. His children learn this wisdom by walking in the fear of Him. He gives it liberally to any who lack wisdom and ask Him.