Job 28:14
in Job 28The ocean depths say, ‘It is not in me,’ while the sea declares, ‘It is not with me.’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The deep saith, It is not in me; And the sea saith, It is not with me.
KJV
The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me.
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This verse in Job 28
Commentary
9 notes on this verseThe depth saith, It is not in me - Men may dig into the bowels of the earth, and there find gold, silver, and precious stones; but these will not give them true happiness. The sea saith, It is not with me - Men may explore foreign countries, and by navigation connect as it were the most distant parts of the earth, and multiply the comforts and luxuries of life; but every voyage and every enjoyment proclaim, True happiness is not here.
This site's exposition
No man can know its value
on Job 28:13-14
"No man can know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living", which rules out every human market. Barnes notes the poem building its case by elimination, each place man has searched for buried treasure now speaking for itself.
This site's exposition
The ocean depths say
Barnes calls the verse a personification and reads its aim: wisdom lies beyond the deepest places man can reach and must come from God. Henry adds that no trade by sea can buy it. Clarke says the deep yields gold and gems, which give no true happiness.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Such valuable kinds of corporeal things are partly found in some dark places, but this is not true with wisdom, and so he says, "The deep says: It is not in me," that is, what lies in the hidden places of the depths is especially …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XVIII · Written before 604.
proposed
The bottomless pit saith, It is not with me. And the sea saith, It is not with me. What does he call 'the bottomless pit' but the hearts of men, which are at once by the fall all floating, and by the mistiness of double-dealing full of darkness? Which same 'bottomless pit' declares that this Wisdom 'is not with' it; because the wicked mind, while it longs to be wise in a carnal way, shews itself foolish as to things spiritual.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
(2.) Ask the mariners, and by them the sea will say, It is not in me. It can never be got either by trading on the waters or diving into them, can never be sucked from the abundance of the seas or the treasures hidden in the sand. Where there is a vein for the silver there is no vein for wisdom, none for grace.
The depth - This is not to be found in any part of the sea, though a man may dig or dive ever so deep to find it, nor to be learned from any creature.
The depth saith, it is not in me,....
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The depth saith - This is a beautiful personification. The object of this verse and the following is, to show that wisdom cannot be found in the deepest recesses to which man can penetrate, nor purchased by anything which man possesses. It must come from God only. The word “depth” here (תהום tehôm) means properly a wave, billow, surge; then a mass of waters, a flood, or the deep ocean, Deu 8:7; Gen 7:11; Psa 36:6; and then a gulf, or abyss. It refers here to the sea, or ocean; and the idea is, that its vast depths might be sounded, and true wisdom would not be found there.
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
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| תְּה֣וֹם | tehom | [the] deep | H8415 → | 36 times |
| אָ֭מַר | ʾamar | it says | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| בִי־ | vi- | [is] in me | ||
| הִ֑יא | hi' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| וְיָ֥ם | veyam | and [the] sea | H3220 → | 396 times |
| אָ֝מַ֗ר | ʾamar | it says | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֵ֣ין | ʾein | not [it] | H369 → | 789 times |
| עִמָּדִֽי׃ | ʾimadi | [is] with me | H5978 → | 42 times |
תְּה֣וֹם[the] deep
tehomH8415 →36 times
אָ֭מַרit says
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
בִי־[is] in me
vi-
הִ֑יאit
hi'H1931 →1879 times
וְיָ֥םand [the] sea
veyamH3220 →396 times
אָ֝מַ֗רit says
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
אֵ֣יןnot [it]
ʾeinH369 →789 times
עִמָּדִֽי׃[is] with me
ʾimadiH5978 →42 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
About Job
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVIII; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.