Job 28:4 Meaning and Explanation
“The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Miners sink shafts far from human dwellings, dangling and swaying in places no foot has trodden and no one remembers.
What Does Job 28:4 Mean?
The Hebrew of this verse is difficult, but the scene is of mining in remote and dangerous depths. Shafts are cut far from where people live. The miners descend into channels untouched by ordinary travelers, hanging and swinging away from all human company, cut off from the world above.
The verse captures the loneliness and peril of the search for treasure. People go where no foot would otherwise tread, suspended in the dark, forgotten by those who walk the surface. It is a portrait of how far human beings will go to gain what they prize. And yet the deeper message is that even this extreme reach falls short of wisdom. One can be lowered into the loneliest depths of the earth and still not touch understanding. The treasure that matters most lies in another direction entirely.
Frequently Asked Questions About Job 28:4
What does Job 28:4 mean?
Miners sink shafts far from human dwellings, dangling and swaying in places no foot has trodden and no one remembers.