Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither 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.
- BSB No man can know its value, nor 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 8:18–19Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness.
- Prov 3:14–15For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.
- Prov 8:11For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.
- Prov 23:23Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
- Ps 119:72The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.
- Isa 53:8He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
- Prov 16:16How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!
- Job 28:21–22Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air.
- Ps 19:10More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
- Job 28:15–19It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.
- Eccl 8:16–17When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:)
- Ps 52:5God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.
- Matt 13:44–46Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
- Isa 38:11I said, I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the 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.