What Does Job 28:13 Mean in the King James?
Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Wisdom lies beyond both human valuation and the reach of ordinary discovery.
THE MEANING
Your ability to estimate wisdom’s worth does not define its worth. The verse places it beyond what the living world can locate or supply, even as it names the limits of human knowing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that what matters most can be fully measured by human judgment or found by searching among ordinary possessions.
THE ROOT
עֶרְכָּהּ
ʿerkāh
GROWS FROM
ערך
To arrange or set in order; from this comes the sense of estimating or valuing.
The word translated “price” carries the idea of valuation, from a root about arranging things in order. The verse says wisdom cannot be placed on a human scale or ranked among familiar goods.
ALSO GROWS
ʿārakh: To arrange or set in order
עָרַךְ
It reveals the ordering sense beneath “value”: to price something is to place it within a measure.
maʿărākhāh: An arrangement or battle array
מַעֲרָכָה
This branch shows the root’s sense of things set in formation, a kind of ordering that cannot contain wisdom’s worth.
הַחַיִּים
haḥayyim
GROWS FROM
חיה
To live or be alive.
The phrase is “the land of the living,” locating the limit in the realm of life as people encounter it. Wisdom is not found there as one more thing to locate or possess.
ALSO GROWS
ḥay: Alive or living
חַי
It shares the life-root in “the living,” making the verse’s stated boundary clear.
ḥayyāh: A living creature or animal
חַיָּה
This branch carries the root into living beings, widening the phrase’s sense of the living world.
THE PATTERN
Wisdom’s worth exceeds every material measure and cannot be matched by treasure.
She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.THE THREAD
I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.Both verses use “the land of the living.” Job says wisdom is not found there, while the Psalm names the LORD’s goodness as something seen there; the shared phrase distinguishes what ordinary life can reveal from wisdom’s unmeasurable depth.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us