Job 28:12
in Job 28But where can wisdom be found, and where does understanding dwell?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?
KJV
But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?
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This verse in Job 28
Commentary
10 notes on this verseBut where shall wisdom be found? - It is most evident that the terms wisdom and understanding are used here in a widely different sense from all those arts and sciences which have their relation to man in his animal and social state, and from all that reason and intellect by which man is distinguished from all other animals. Now as these terms חכמה chochmah, wisdom, and בינה binah, understanding or discernment, are often applied in the sacred writings in their common acceptations, we must have recourse to what Job says of them, to know their meaning in this place.
This site's exposition
But where can wisdom be found
"But where can wisdom be found, and where does understanding dwell?" is the turn on which the whole poem hangs. The rest of the chapter answers the question by ruling out every place labor can map, and the final verse answers it directly.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church3 voices
Since he had shown that all the precious things found in corporeal bodies are contained in determined places, which though they are unknown to men are still known to God, he shows the eminence of wisdom by first introducing the fact that it is not …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Septem Donis, Collation 7 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Job raises the question of where wisdom may be found; and he answers negatively, that it is not found by a man living in a merely human manner, saying: 'Man does not know its price, nor is it found in the land of those who …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XVIII · Written before 604.
proposed
But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof: neither is it found in the land of them that live pleasantly. But because the declarations of God are, without His wisdom, never fathomed at all, (for except him who hath received His Spirit, none knoweth in any sort His words,) the holy man adds words touching the subject of searching out that same Wisdom of God. It is first to be noted, that two points be proposed to himself, and two he adds making answer.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
This is a question we should all put. While the most of men are asking, "Where shall money be found?" we should ask, Where may wisdom be found? that we may seek it and find it, not vain philosophy, or carnal policy, but true religion; for that is the only true wisdom, that is it which best improves our faculties and best secures our spiritual and eternal welfare.
The knowledge of God's secret will, the will of his providence, is out of our reach, and what God has reserved to himself. It belongs to the Lord our God. To know the particulars of what God will do hereafter, and the reasons of what he is doing now, is the knowledge Job first speaks of.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
But where shall wisdom be found?....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Can man discover the Divine Wisdom by which the world is governed, as he can the treasures hidden in the earth? Divine Wisdom is conceived as a person (Job 28:12-27) distinct from God (Job 28:23; also in Pr 8:23, 27). The Almighty Word, Jesus Christ, we know now, is that Wisdom.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
But where shall wisdom be found? - That is, the full understanding of the plans of God - for this is the point of inquiry. The object of Job is to show that it is not to be found in the most profound science; by penetrating to the farthest extent of which man was capable in the earth, nor by any human investigations whatever. None of these things revealed the great plans of the Almighty in reference to his moral government, and particularly to the points which engrossed the attention of Job and his friends. Where true wisdom is to be found he proceeds to state in the subsequent verses.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
and it will not be found in the land of the living with one who enlivens himself, but with one who “puts himself to death” with toil and hunger.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְֽ֭הַחָכְמָה | vehachakhemah | and <the> wisdom | H2451 → | 153 times |
| מֵאַ֣יִן | meayin | from where? | H370 → | 17 times |
| תִּמָּצֵ֑א | timatze' | will it be found | H4672 → | 455 times |
| וְאֵ֥י | veei | and where? | H335 → | 39 times |
| זֶ֝ה | zeh | this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| מְק֣וֹם | mekom | [is the] place of | H4725 → | 401 times |
| בִּינָֽה׃ | binah | understanding | H998 → | 38 times |
וְֽ֭הַחָכְמָהand <the> wisdom
vehachakhemahH2451 →153 times
מֵאַ֣יִןfrom where?
meayinH370 →17 times
תִּמָּצֵ֑אwill it be found
timatze'H4672 →455 times
וְאֵ֥יand where?
veeiH335 →39 times
זֶ֝הthis
zehH2088 →1180 times
מְק֣וֹם[is the] place of
mekomH4725 →401 times
בִּינָֽה׃understanding
binahH998 →38 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
James 1:5Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
it leads to
- Proverbs 2:3–6
if you truly call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding,
- John 15:7
If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
- Jeremiah 29:12–13
Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
- Proverbs 3:5–7
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
- 1 John 5:14–15
And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
- Proverbs 2:3–6
Through
Colossians 2:3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 1:24
but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
- 1 Corinthians 1:30
It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.
- 1 Corinthians 1:24
Through
Proverbs 3:19The LORD founded the earth by wisdom and established the heavens by understanding.
it leads to
- Psalms 104:24
How many are Your works, O LORD! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures.
- Psalms 104:24
Where this verse is studied
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on A. B. Davidson, The Book of Job, Cambridge Bible; Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bonaventure, Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 7; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVIII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.