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Wednesday, July 23rd, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

Good News Translation

Job 28:13

Wisdom is not to be found among mortals; No one knows its true value.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Ignorance;   Readings, Select;   Wisdom;   Thompson Chain Reference - Call, Divine;   God's;   Wisdom;   Wisdom-Folly;   The Topic Concordance - Wisdom;  

Dictionaries:

- Easton Bible Dictionary - Wise, Wisdom;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Coral;   God;   Job, the Book of;   Silver;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Mining and Metals;   Wisdom;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Winter ;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Coral;   Death;   Lively;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
No one can know its value,since it cannot be found in the land of the living.
Hebrew Names Version
Man doesn't know its price; Neither is it found in the land of the living.
King James Version
Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.
English Standard Version
Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living.
New Century Version
People do not understand the value of wisdom; it cannot be found among those who are alive.
New English Translation
Mankind does not know its place; it cannot be found in the land of the living.
Amplified Bible
"Man does not know the value of it; Nor is it found in the land of the living.
New American Standard Bible
"Mankind does not know its value, Nor is it found in the land of the living.
World English Bible
Man doesn't know its price; Neither is it found in the land of the living.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Man knoweth not the price thereof: for it is not found in the land of the liuing.
Legacy Standard Bible
Man does not know its worth,And it is not found in the land of the living.
Berean Standard Bible
No man can know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living.
Contemporary English Version
No human knows the way.
Complete Jewish Bible
No one knows its value, and it can't be found in the land of the living.
Darby Translation
Man knoweth not the value thereof; and it is not found in the land of the living.
Easy-to-Read Version
People don't know where wisdom is. It cannot be found by anyone on earth.
George Lamsa Translation
No man knows the treasure thereof; neither is it found except in the land of the living.
Lexham English Bible
A human being does not know its proper value, and it is not found in the land of the living.
Literal Translation
Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Verely no man can tell how worthy a thinge she is, nether is she foude in the lode of the lyuynge.
American Standard Version
Man knoweth not the price thereof; Neither is it found in the land of the living.
Bible in Basic English
Man has not seen the way to it, and it is not in the land of the living.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.
King James Version (1611)
Man knoweth not the price thereof neither is it found in the land of the liuing.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Ueryly no man can tell howe worthy a thing she is, neither is she found in the lande of them that lyue.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
A mortal has not known its way, neither indeed has it been discovered among men.
English Revised Version
Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
A man noot the prijs therof, nether it is foundun in the lond of men lyuynge swetli, `ether delicatli.
Update Bible Version
Common man doesn't know its price; Neither is it found in the land of the living.
Webster's Bible Translation
Man knoweth not the price of it; neither is it found in the land of the living.
New King James Version
Man does not know its value, Nor is it found in the land of the living.
New Living Translation
No one knows where to find it, for it is not found among the living.
New Life Bible
Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living.
New Revised Standard
Mortals do not know the way to it, and it is not found in the land of the living.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Mortal knoweth not the way thereof, neither can it be found in the land of the living;
Douay-Rheims Bible
Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the land of them that live in delights.
Revised Standard Version
Man does not know the way to it, and it is not found in the land of the living.
Young's Literal Translation
Man hath not known its arrangement, Nor is it found in the land of the living.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Man does not know its value, Nor is it found in the land of the living.

Contextual Overview

1 There are mines where silver is dug; There are places where gold is refined. 2 We dig iron out of the ground And melt copper out of the stones. 3 Miners explore the deepest darkness. They search the depths of the earth And dig for rocks in the darkness. 4 Far from where anyone lives Or human feet ever travel, They dig the shafts of mines. There they work in loneliness, Clinging to ropes in the pits. 5 Food grows out of the earth, But underneath the same earth All is torn up and crushed. 6 The stones of the earth contain sapphires, And its dust contains gold. 7 No hawk sees the roads to the mines, And no vulture ever flies over them. 8 No lion or other fierce beast Ever travels those lonely roads. 9 Miners dig the hardest rocks, Dig mountains away at their base. 10 As they tunnel through the rocks, They discover precious stones.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

knoweth: Job 28:15-19, Psalms 19:10, Psalms 119:72, Proverbs 3:14, Proverbs 3:15, Proverbs 8:11, Proverbs 8:18, Proverbs 8:19, Proverbs 16:16, Proverbs 23:23, Ecclesiastes 8:16, Ecclesiastes 8:17

in the land: Job 28:21, Job 28:22, Psalms 52:5, Isaiah 38:11, Isaiah 53:8

Reciprocal: Job 36:3 - fetch Jeremiah 11:19 - from Ezekiel 32:23 - the land

Cross-References

Genesis 12:7
The Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, "This is the country that I am going to give to your descendants." Then Abram built an altar there to the Lord , who had appeared to him.
Genesis 13:15
I am going to give you and your descendants all the land that you see, and it will be yours forever.
Genesis 15:1
After this, Abram had a vision and heard the Lord say to him, "Do not be afraid, Abram. I will shield you from danger and give you a great reward."
Genesis 26:3
Live here, and I will be with you and bless you. I am going to give all this territory to you and to your descendants. I will keep the promise I made to your father Abraham.
Genesis 26:24
That night the Lord appeared to him and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid; I am with you. I will bless you and give you many descendants because of my promise to my servant Abraham."
Genesis 28:4
May he bless you and your descendants as he blessed Abraham, and may you take possession of this land, in which you have lived and which God gave to Abraham!"
Genesis 28:6
Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Mesopotamia to find a wife. He also learned that when Isaac blessed him, he commanded him not to marry a Canaanite woman.
Genesis 28:7
He found out that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Mesopotamia.
Genesis 28:15
Remember, I will be with you and protect you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done all that I have promised you."
Genesis 28:16
Jacob woke up and said, "The Lord is here! He is in this place, and I didn't know it!"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Man knoweth not the price thereof,.... The worth and value of it, what price to set upon it, or offer and give for it; nor does he know where to find an equivalent to it, or what is a valuable consideration for it: as for the wisdom of God in his dealings with men, if a man was to give all the substance of his house to know the secret reasons of them, it would utterly be condemned; yea, if he had all the riches in the world in his possession, and would offer them on that consideration, he would not be able to attain the knowledge of them: or "the order thereof" o; the order of divine Providence, the wise disposal of thing, and the reasons thereof. In the first sense it is applicable to all the things before mentioned; to spiritual wisdom in men, supernatural grace, experimental religion, and real godliness; the worth of which is not known by carnal men, they despise it, and scoff at it; and to the Gospel, which is reckoned foolishness by them, and is of no account; and so is Christ himself rejected and disallowed of men, though chosen of God, and precious both to him and them that believe, who only know the price and value of him:

neither is it found in the land of the living; meaning not wisdom, though that in every sense is not from below, or earthly, but from above, and heavenly, but the price of it; and the sense is, that there is nothing in the whole globe that is equal to its worth, or can be proposed as a valuable consideration for it.

o ערכה "ordinem ejus", Montanus, Bolducius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Man knoweth not the price thereof - The word rendered “price” (ערך êrek) means properly that which is set in a pile or row, or which is arranged in order. Here it means preparation, equipment - that is, anything put in order, or ready, Judges 17:10. It is also used in the sense of estimation or valuation, Leviticus 5:15, Leviticus 5:18. The word “price” here, however, seems to form no proper answer to the question in the previous verse, as the question is, “where” wisdom is to be found, not what is its “value.” Many expositors have, therefore, introduced a different idea in their interpretation. Dr. Good renders it, “Man knoweth not its source.” Prof. Lee, “Man knoweth not its equal.” Herder, “Man knoweth not the seat thereof.” Coverdale, “No man can tell how worthy a thing she is.” The Septuagint renders it, “Man knoweth not - όδὸν άυτῆς hodon autēs - her way.” But the word used here is not employed to denote a “place” or “way,” and the true interpretation doubtless is, that Job does not confine himself to a strict answer of the question proposed in Job 28:12, but goes on to say that man could not buy it; he could neither find it, nor had he the means of purchasing it with all the wealth of which he was the owner.

Neither is it found in the land of the living - That is, it is not found among human beings. We must look to a higher source than man for true wisdom; compare Isaiah 38:11; Isaiah 53:8.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 28:13. Man knoweth not the price thereof — It is of infinite value; and is the only science which concerns both worlds. Without it, the wisest man is but a beast; with it, the simplest man is next to an angel.

Neither is it found in the land of the living. — The world by wisdom, its wisdom, never knew God. True religion came by Divine revelation: that alone gives the true notion of God, his attributes, ways, designs, judgments, providences, &c., whence man came, what is his duty, his nature, and his end. Literature, science, arts, &c., &c., can only avail man for the present life, nor can they contribute to his true happiness, unless tempered and directed by genuine religion.


 
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