20  “From where, then, does wisdom come?

And where is the place of understanding?

21  It is hidden from the eyes of ^rall living

and concealed from the birds of the air.

22  ^sAbaddon and Death say,

‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

23  ^t“God understands the way to it,

and he knows its place.

24  For he ^ulooks to the ends of the earth

and sees everything under the heavens.

25  When he ^vgave to the wind its weight

and apportioned the waters by measure,

26  when he made a decree for the rain

and ^wa way for the lightning of the thunder,

27  then he saw it and declared it;

he established it, and searched it out.

28  And he said to man,

‘Behold, ^xthe fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,

and to ^yturn away from evil is understanding.’”