¶“But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?
Parallel translations
- WEB “But where shall wisdom be found? Where is the place of understanding?
- KJV But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?
- BSB But where can wisdom be found, and where does understanding dwell?
- NKJV “Butwhere can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?
- NLT “But do people know where to find wisdom? Where can they find understanding?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Job asks the chapter's central question: where can wisdom and understanding be found?
Overview
Having shown that man can extract every earthly treasure, Job now poses the question that all his digging cannot answer. True wisdom is not buried in the earth to be mined by skill. This question reaches its answer in verse 28, and ultimately points to Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Jas 1:5But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him.
- Prov 2:4–6If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures:
- Job 28:20Where then does wisdom come from? Where is the place of understanding?
- Prov 3:19By wisdom Yahweh founded the earth. By understanding, he established the heavens.
- 1 Cor 1:19–20For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.”
- Col 2:3in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden.
- Job 28:28To man he said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.’”
- Eccl 7:23–25All this I have proved in wisdom. I said, “I will be wise”; but it was far from me.
- Jas 1:17Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow.
- Ps 51:6Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
- 1 Kgs 3:9Give your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this great people of yours?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 28:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.