Bible Strands
Job 28:21
It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing and concealed from the birds of the air.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Job 28:21 continues the speaker’s rhetorical inquiry into the origin of wisdom, addressing a human audience within a poetic discourse on human limitation. The verse sits between Job 28:20’s question about where wisdom comes from and Job 28:22’s report that Abaddon and Death have only heard a rumor of it.
The words — The Hebrew verbs נֶעֶלְמָה (ne'elmah) and נִסְתָּרָה (nistarah) both translate literally as “it has been concealed” and “it has been hidden.” These terms stress that the subject remains entirely inaccessible to both human sight and avian observation.
The thread — The motif of hidden wisdom appears in Psalms 49:3 as the speaker’s heart meditation, Matthew 11:25 where Jesus states the Father hides things from the wise, and 1 Corinthians 2:7 which calls it God’s mysterious wisdom destined before time. These references establish a consistent biblical pattern where divine knowledge resists natural discovery.
Why it lands — The text requires a reader to accept that wisdom cannot be found through observation, exploration, or natural instinct. It asks the reader to acknowledge the limits of created perception before pursuing any further understanding of its source.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air.
Cross-references
- Psalms 49:3 My mouth will impart wisdom, and the meditation of my heart will bring understanding.
- Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
- 1 Corinthians 2:7 No, we speak of the mysterious and hidden wisdom of God, which He destined for our glory before time began.
- Colossians 2:3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
- Matthew 13:35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.”
- Matthew 13:17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.