Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Job 28:13 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 13. 13Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Job 28:13 closes the thought unit with the words “Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.” The wisdom poem states “Man knoweth not the price thereof” as one poetic claim in Human Mining Finds Treasure but Not Wisdom.
Read It With
- Job 28:1–28:13
Read Job 28:13 with 28:1–28:13. Read alone, “Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living” could lose its speaker, the question or claim it develops, and the unit's outcome. The complete movement establishes: The wisdom poem celebrates human skill penetrating darkness, rock, mountains, and hidden ore, then asks where wisdom can be found and says mortals do not know its value.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The wisdom poem interrupts the fractured third cycle by contrasting human mining skill with inaccessible cosmic wisdom before naming reverence and departure from evil as the human practice. Within that relationship, Job 28:13 closes the thought unit through “Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.”
Read Job 28:1–13 together
Why these verses belong together: Job 28:1–28:13 follows the pinned KJV paragraphing and holds together one sustained wisdom-poem movement: “Human Mining Finds Treasure but Not Wisdom.” The next unit begins with a new stanza, question sequence, scene, speaker response, or rhetorical turn.
Verse 1. 1 Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they fine it.
Verse 2. 2 Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone.
Verse 3. 3 He setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all perfection: the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death.
Verse 4. 4 The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men.
Verse 5. 5 As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire.
Verse 6. 6 The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and it hath dust of gold.
Verse 7. 7 There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture’s eye hath not seen:
Verse 8. 8 The lion’s whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it.
Verse 9. 9 He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots.
Verse 10. 10 He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing.
Verse 11. 11 He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.
Verse 12. 12 But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?
Verse 13. 13 Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.
What Remains True
The wisdom poem celebrates human skill penetrating darkness, rock, mountains, and hidden ore, then asks where wisdom can be found and says mortals do not know its value. Human skill has real reach, but practiced reverence and departure from evil do not grant access to every hidden cause. Job 28:13 carries that bounded truth through “Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.”
How It Can Shape Life
- Let Job 28:1–28:13 redirect the search for hidden causes toward reverence, departure from harm, intellectual humility, and concrete ethical action. Preserve this unit-specific boundary in the action: The poem's speaker and relation to Job's final discourse are disputed; technological mastery is admired but does not equal moral wisdom. The verse-specific evidence to retain is “Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.”
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Job 28:1–28:13 — Human Mining Finds Treasure but Not WisdomSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
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 ↗