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Job 28

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Human Skill in Mining the Earth 1–11

1
Surely there is a mine for silver, And a place for gold which they refine. ​
2
Iron is taken out of the earth, And copper is molten out of the stone.
3
Man setteth an end to darkness, And searcheth out, to the furthest bound, The stones of obscurity and of thick darkness. ​
4
He breaketh open a shaft away from where men sojourn; They are forgotten of the foot; They hang afar from men, they swing to and fro. ​
5
As for the earth, out of it cometh bread; And underneath it is turned up as it were by fire.
6
The stones thereof are the place of sapphires, And it hath dust of gold.
7
That path no bird of prey knoweth, Neither hath the falcon’s eye seen it: ​
8
The proud beasts have not trodden it, Nor hath the fierce lion passed thereby.
9
He putteth forth his hand upon the flinty rock; He overturneth the mountains by the roots.
10
He cutteth out channels among the rocks; And his eye seeth every precious thing.
11
He bindeth the streams that they trickle not; And the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light. ​

The Elusive Nature of True Wisdom 12–19

12
But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? ​
13
Man knoweth not the price thereof; Neither is it found in the land of the living.
14
The deep saith, It is not in me; And the sea saith, It is not with me.
15
It cannot be gotten for gold, Neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. ​
16
It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, With the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
17
Gold and glass cannot equal it, Neither shall it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
18
No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal: Yea, the price of wisdom is above rubies.
19
The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, Neither shall it be valued with pure gold.

God Alone Knows the Path to Wisdom 20–28

20
Whence then cometh wisdom? And where is the place of understanding?
21
Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, And kept close from the birds of the heavens.
22
Destruction and Death say, We have heard a rumor thereof with our ears. ​
23
God understandeth the way thereof, And he knoweth the place thereof. ​
24
For he looketh to the ends of the earth, And seeth under the whole heaven;
25
To make a weight for the wind: Yea, he meteth out the waters by measure.
26
When he made a decree for the rain, And a way for the lightning of the thunder;
27
Then did he see it, and declare it; He established it, yea, and searched it out. ​
28
And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Job 28

Verse 1

a vein for the silver — 'Vein' is motsa, a going forth, the place where the metal comes out of the earth. 'Fine' is zaqaq, to refine, the verb of 'silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times' (Ps 12:6). The chapter opens with what men can find, so that the question of v.12 stands against it.

Verse 3

the shadow of death — Tsalmaveth, deep darkness, the word of Job's own 'land of darkness and the shadow of death' (10:21). The miner 'searcheth out' (chaqar, to probe) the stones to the farthest limit: 'all perfection' is taklit, the extremity, as in 'find out the Almighty unto perfection' (11:7).

Verse 4

the flood breaketh out — A hard verse. 'Flood' is nachal, a winter torrent or its valley, and 'inhabitant' is gur, one who lodges as a guest. The workings lie far from any dwelling, in places 'forgotten of the foot'. The waters 'are dried up' (dalal, to hang low) and 'gone away from men' (nua, to waver), which is usually read of a mine far from any home.

Verse 7

the vulture's eye — Ayah is the bird of prey named among the unclean birds in Lev 11:14, a creature of keen sight; of the eagle Job later says, 'her eyes behold afar off' (39:29). 'Hath not seen' is shazaph, to scan. The track to the metal is one no bird of prey knows or has looked down on.

Verse 11

the thing that is hid — Ta'alumah, a secret. The miner brings it 'forth to light', as God 'discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death' (12:22). 'Bindeth' is chabash, to wrap firmly, and 'overflowing' is literally 'weeping' (beki), a trickle: he stops the seepage.

Verse 12

where shall wisdom be found? — The question that turns the chapter, asked again at v.20 with 'Whence then cometh wisdom?' Chokmah is wisdom, skill in living, and binah is understanding, discernment. 'Place' (maqom) runs through the chapter (vv.1, 6, 12, 20, 23): metals have their place, and God knows wisdom's.

Verse 15

cannot be gotten for gold — Literally 'cannot be given for gold'. Segor is gold shut up safely in a store, and silver is 'weighed' (shaqal) for a price (mechir). Proverbs says the same of wisdom: 'the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold' (Prov 3:14).

Verse 22

Destruction and death — Abaddon, the place of perishing, which Job named in 26:6 ('destruction hath no covering'), and mavet, death. Even they say 'We have heard the fame thereof with our ears' (shema, a report). The same words return in 42:5: 'I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.'

Verse 23

God understandeth the way — Bin, to discern, the verb behind binah, 'understanding' (vv.12, 20, 28). Man 'knoweth not the price thereof' (v.13) and the depth and the sea say 'It is not in me' (v.14), but God knows 'the place thereof'. Paul's cry is of the same kind: 'his ways past finding out' (Rom 11:33).

Verse 27

he prepared it — Kun, to establish. 'Searched it out' is chaqar, the verb of the miner's 'searcheth out' in v.3, used only these two times in the chapter. God does with wisdom what man does with ore. Proverbs says 'The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth' (Prov 3:19) and 'possessed me in the beginning of his way' (Prov 8:22).

Verse 28

the fear of the Lord — This is the one verse in the Old Testament where the KJV prints 'fear of the Lord' with the lowercase title (Adonai); elsewhere it reads 'fear of the LORD' (Prov 1:7). 'Depart from evil' is sur, to turn aside, as Job himself did: he 'eschewed evil' (1:1; 1:8; 2:3). Wisdom is chokmah, understanding binah.