No man can know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living.
Parallel translations
- WEB Man doesn’t know its price; Neither is it found in the land of the living.
- KJV Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.
- NKJV Man does not know its value, Nor is it found in the land of the living.
- NASB “Mankind does not know its value, Nor is it found in the land of the living.
- NLT No one knows where to find it, for it is not found among the living.
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
Man does not know wisdom's worth, and it cannot be found anywhere in the land of the living.
Overview
Job declares that wisdom has no market value man can set and cannot be located among the living by human searching. It transcends the entire created realm that humanity inhabits and explores. This humbling truth drives the seeker beyond himself to God, the only source of wisdom, fulfilled in the gospel where God makes Christ to be our wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:30).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Prov 8:18–19With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and righteousness.
- Prov 3:14–15for she is more profitable than silver, and her gain is better than fine gold.
- Prov 8:11For wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire compares with her.
- Prov 23:23Invest in truth and never sell it—in wisdom and instruction and understanding.
- Ps 119:72The law from Your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.
- Isa 53:8By oppression and judgment He was taken away, and who can recount His descendants? For He was cut off from the land of the living; He was stricken for the transgression of My people.
- Prov 16:16How much better to acquire wisdom than gold! To gain understanding is more desirable than silver.
- Job 28:21–22It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing and concealed from the birds of the air.
- Ps 19:10They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.
- Job 28:15–19It cannot be bought with gold, nor can its price be weighed out in silver.
- Eccl 8:16–17When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the task that one performs on the earth—though his eyes do not see sleep in the day or even in the night—
- Ps 52:5Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
- Matt 13:44–46The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and in his joy he went and sold all he had and bought that field.
- Isa 38:11I said, “I will never again see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living; I will no longer look on mankind with those who dwell in this world.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 28:13 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.