Job 28:1–28:13, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Job 28:1–28:13
Human Mining Finds Treasure but Not Wisdom
Miners can reach darkness that wisdom still will not enter
The poem, whose speaker and placement are disputed, begins with human competence. Silver has a vein, gold a place, iron is taken from earth, brass is molten from stone. People set an end to darkness, search out all perfection, the stones of darkness and the shadow of death. They break out rivers from the rocks. Their eye sees every precious thing. They bind the floods from overflowing. The thing that is hid they bring to light.
Then the question: where shall wisdom be found, and where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its price. It is not found in the land of the living. The marvel is not that humans are stupid. The marvel is that skill which can open a mountain cannot open this.
Technological reach is not moral sight
The poem admires the work. It does not sneer at tools, mines, or knowledge of the earth. It refuses to let extraction stand in for wisdom.
Job's suffering is not solved here. A world that can be tunneled can still not tell him why the innocent are crushed. The unit also will not support later boasts that more data, more digging, or more mastery will finally purchase the fear of the Lord.
How this should shape us
Honor hard-won skill without confusing it with wisdom. You may learn the mountain and still have to ask where understanding lives. Do not treat a sufferer's unanswered question as a failure of intelligence.
Teach it back
Explain Job 28:1–28:13 in your own words. Name the speaker, the unit's place in Job, one source-controlled textual or literary observation, one uncertainty, and one harmful use the passage does not authorize.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do responsible readings differ?
Best judgment: The poem's speaker and relation to Job's final discourse are disputed; technological mastery is admired but does not equal moral wisdom.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Job 28:1–28:13, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 28:1–28:13
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 28:1–28:13.
Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 28:1–28:13
Supports: Book-level and passage-level literary, historical, theological, and pastoral synthesis with speaker distinctions and visible uncertainty.
Enter the Bible Job course, Outline and Theological Themes: wisdom poem and Job's final defense; applied to Job 28:1–28:13
Supports: Ancient Greek textual and translation evidence where the Masoretic and Greek forms, wording, length, or attribution materially differ.
NETS Iob, introduction on the shorter Old Greek and exact Greek translation and notes for Iob 28:1–28:13
Supports: Polyphony, retribution critique, justice, Job's response, divine verdict, and the book's interpretive openness.
Ausloos, 'A Matter of Justice,' OTE 36.1 (2023), pp. 151-165, poetic dialogue, protest, retribution, and polyphony; applied to Job 28:1–28:13
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Job 28:1–28:13, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Job
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 28:1–28:13
Open the fixed Hebrew Job file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Job
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006; current official PDF
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 28:1–28:13.
Exact location: Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 28:1–28:13
Open the official NET Job PDF ↗modern scholarly book course
Job course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Daniel J. Simundson and Kathryn Schifferdecker
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, current online edition inspected 2026
Supports: Book-level and passage-level literary, historical, theological, and pastoral synthesis with speaker distinctions and visible uncertainty.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Job course, Outline and Theological Themes: wisdom poem and Job's final defense; applied to Job 28:1–28:13
Open the Enter the Bible Job course ↗ancient greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Iob
Claude E. Cox
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies; Oxford University Press, 2009
Supports: Ancient Greek textual and translation evidence where the Masoretic and Greek forms, wording, length, or attribution materially differ.
Exact location: NETS Iob, introduction on the shorter Old Greek and exact Greek translation and notes for Iob 28:1–28:13
Open NETS Iob ↗peer reviewed open access literary and theological article
A Matter of Justice: The Openness of the Book of Job
Hans Ausloos
Old Testament Essays 36.1, 2023
Supports: Polyphony, retribution critique, justice, Job's response, divine verdict, and the book's interpretive openness.
Exact location: Ausloos, 'A Matter of Justice,' OTE 36.1 (2023), pp. 151-165, poetic dialogue, protest, retribution, and polyphony; applied to Job 28:1–28:13
Open Ausloos on Job and justice ↗