Verse Lens · Context pointer

Job 28:21 Explained in Context

Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.

Selected verse

Verse 21. Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air.

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Role in This Section

The wisdom poem supplies a reason through “Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the…” in support of God Knows Wisdom's Way and Gives Mortals a Practice.

Read It With

  • Job 28:20–28:28

Job 28:21 should be heard after the prior line and before the unit's outcome. The wisdom poem supplies a reason through “Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the…” in support of God Knows Wisdom's Way and Gives Mortals a Practice. The conclusion offers a faithful human path without revealing the hidden calculus of Job's suffering; it must not be used to restore the friends' blame formula.

Why It Needs Context

Job 28:20–28:28 gives Job 28:21 its literary owner and outcome. The wisdom poem supplies a reason through “Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the…” in support of God Knows Wisdom's Way and Gives Mortals a Practice. Application waits until that full movement is understood.

Continue in Context

The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.

Read Job 28:20–28:28 — God Knows Wisdom's Way and Gives Mortals a Practice
Sources used for this context pointer

How certain is this explanation? strong

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 28:20–28:28, 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 28:20–28:28

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