TRV
Translation
King James Version
He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing.
Complete Jewish Bible
and cuts out galleries in the rock, all the while watching for something of value.
American Standard Version
He cutteth out channels among the rocks; And his eye seeth every precious thing.
World English Bible Messianic
He cuts out channels among the rocks. His eye sees every precious thing.
Young's Literal Translation
Among rocks, brooks he hath cleaved, And every precious thing hath his eye seen.
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In the KJVVerse 13,515 of 31,102
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Commentary on Job 28 verses 1–11
1 ¶ Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they fine it.
2 Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone.
3 He setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all perfection: the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death.
4 The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men.
5 As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire.
6 The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and it hath dust of gold.
7 There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen:
8 The lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it.
9 He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots.
10 He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing.
11 He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.
Here Job shows, 1. What a great way the wit of man may go in diving into the depths of nature and seizing the riches of it, what a great deal of knowledge and wealth men may, by their ingenious and industrious searches, make themselves masters of. But does it therefore follow that men may, by their wit, comprehend the reasons why some wicked people prosper and others are punished, why some good people prosper and others are afflicted? No, by no means. The caverns of the earth may be discovered, but not the counsels of heaven. 2. What a great deal of care and pains worldly men take to get riches. He had observed concerning the wicked man (Job 27:16) that he heaped up silver as the dust; now here he shows whence that silver came which he was so fond of and how it was obtained, to show what little reason wicked rich men have to be proud of their wealth and pomp. Observe here,
I. The wealth of this world is hidden in the earth. Thence the silver and the gold, which afterwards they refine, are fetched, Job 28:1. There they lay mixed with a great deal of dirt and dross, like a worthless thing, of no more account than common earth; and abundance of them will so lie neglected, till the earth and all the works therein shall be burnt up. Holy Mr. Herbert, in his poem called Avarice, takes notice of this, to shame men out of the love of money: -
Money, thou bane of bliss, thou source of woe,
Whence com'st thou, that thou art so fresh and fine?
I know thy parentage is base and low;
Man found thee poor and dirty in a mine.
Surely thou didst so little contribute
To this great kingdom which thou now hast got
That he was fain, when thou wast destitute,
To dig thee out of thy dark cave and grot.
Man calleth thee his wealth, who made thee rich,
And while he digs out thee falls in the ditch.
Iron and brass, less costly but more serviceable metals, are taken out of the earth (Job 28:2), and are there found in great abundance, which abates their price indeed, but is a great kindness to man, who could much better be without gold than without iron. Nay, out of the earth comes bread, that is, bread-corn, the necessary support of life, Job 28:5. Thence man's maintenance is fetched, to remind him of his own original; he is of the earth, and is hastening to the earth. Under it is turned up as it were fire, precious stones, that sparkle as fire - brimstone, that is apt to take fire - coal, that is proper to feed fire. As we have our food, so we have our fuel, out of the earth. There the sapphires and other gems are, and thence gold-dust is digged up;, Job 28:6. The wisdom of the Creator has placed these things, 1. Out of our sight, to teach us not to set our eyes upon them, Pro 23:5. 2. Under our feet, to teach us not to lay them in our bosoms, nor to set our hearts upon them, but to trample upon them with a holy contempt. See how full the earth is of God's riches (Psa 104:24) and infer thence, not only how great a God he is whose the earth is and the fulness thereof (Psa 24:1), but how full heaven must needs be of God's riches, which is the city of the great King, in comparison with which this earth is a poor country.
II. The wealth that is hidden in the earth cannot be obtained but with a great deal of difficulty. 1. It is hard to be found out: there is but here and there a vein for the silver, Job 28:1. The precious stones, though bright themselves, yet, because buried in obscurity and out of sight, are called stones of darkness and the shadow of death. Men may search long before they light on them. 2. When found out it is hard to be fetched out. Men's wits must be set on work to contrive ways and means to get this hidden treasure into their hands. They must with their lamps set an end to darkness; and if one expedient miscarry, one method fail, they must try another, till they have searched out all perfection, and turned every stone to effect it, Job 28:3. They must grapple with subterraneous waters (Job 28:4, Job 28:10, Job 28:11), and force their way through rocks which are, as it were, the roots of the mountains, Job 28:9. Now God has made the getting of gold, and silver, and precious stones, so difficult, (1.) For the exciting and engaging of industry. Dii laboribus omnia vendunt - Labour is the price which the gods affix to all things. If valuable things were too easily obtained men would never learn to take pains. But the difficulty of gaining the riches of this earth may suggest to us what violence the kingdom of heaven suffers. (2.) For the checking and restraining of pomp and luxury. What is for necessity is had with a little labour from the surface of the earth; but what is for ornament must be dug with a great deal of pains out of the bowels of it. To be fed is cheap, but to be fine is chargeable.
III. Though the subterraneous wealth is thus hard to obtain, yet men will have it. He that loves silver is not satisfied with silver, and yet is not satisfied without it; but those that have much must needs have more. See here, 1. What inventions men have to get this wealth. They search out all perfection, Job 28:3. They have arts and engines to dry up the waters, and carry them off, when they break in upon them in their mines and threaten to drown the work, Job 28:4. They have pumps, and pipes, and canals, to clear their way, and, obstacles being removed, they tread the path which no fowl knoweth (Job 28:7, Job 28:8), unseen by the vulture's eye, which is piercing and quick-sighted, and untrodden by the lion's whelps, which traverse all the paths of the wilderness. 2. What pains men take, and what vast charge they are at, to get this wealth. They work their way through the rocks and undermine the mountains, Job 28:10. 3. What hazards they run. Those that dig in the mines have their lives in their hands; for they are obliged to bind the floods from overflowing (Job 28:11), and are continually in danger of being suffocated by damps or crushed or buried alive by the fall of the earth upon them. See how foolish man adds to his own burden. He is sentenced to eat bread in the sweat of his face; but, as if that were not enough, he will get gold and silver at the peril of his life, though the more is gotten the less valuable it is. In Solomon's time silver was as stones. But, 4. Observe what it is that carries men through all this toil and peril: Their eye sees every precious thing, Job 28:10. Silver and gold are precious things with them, and they have them in their eye in all these pursuits. They fancy they see them glittering before their faces, and, in the prospect of laying hold of them, they make nothing of all these difficulties; for they make something of their toil at last: That which is hidden bringeth he forth to light, Job 28:11. What was hidden under ground is laid upon the bank; the metal that was hidden in the ore is refined from its dross and brought forth pure out of the furnace; and then he thinks his pains well bestowed. Go to the miners then, thou sluggard in religion; consider their ways, and be wise. Let their courage, diligence, and constancy in seeking the wealth that perisheth shame us out of slothfulness and faint-heartedness in labouring for the true riches. How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! How much easier and safer! Yet gold is sought for, but grace neglected. Will the hopes of precious things out of the earth (so they call them, though really they are paltry and perishing) be such a spur to industry, and shall not the certain prospect of truly precious things in heaven be much more so?
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 1–11. Public domain.
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Julian of EclanumAD 455
EXPOSITION ON THE BOOK OF JOB 28:10-11
“And his eye has seen every precious thing.” That is, not only those things that were useful but also those that were convenient as an ornament, such as clothes from wool, fabrics for the rich from the threads of the Persian worms, wine from some creeping plants, ointments and other remedies from herbs. “The sources of the rivers he has probed,” while his curious hand explored the stones covered by the waters. “Hidden things he has brought to light”; his reason spread the news about the previously unknown usefulness of things. In fact, since before humankind the elements subsisted alone, after he was created, he understood what usefulness could be gained from each of them with the guidance of his reason, which lands were suitable for sowing, which for plantations that benefit could be obtained from a particular plant, which wood was useful to build ships that was suitable for buildings.
Gregory the DialogistAD 604
MORALS ON THE BOOK OF JOB 18.57-58
“He stretches out his hand to the flint; he overturns mountains by the roots.” “He stretches out his hand to the flint” means he presented the arm of his preaching to the hardness of the Gentiles. Hence the same blessed Job, forewarned of the history of his suffering being destined to be made known to the Gentiles, says, “Let these things be engraved with an iron pen in a plate of lead or hewn in the flint.” However, whom in this place do we understand by the “mountains” except the powerful ones of this world, who because of earthly substance puff themselves up? Concerning them the psalmist says, “Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke”; but the mountains are overturned from the roots, because holy church, preaching the highest powers of this world, fell from their inmost thinking into the adoring of almighty God. For “the roots” of the mountains are the inmost thoughts of the proud. And “the mountains fall from the roots,” because for the worshiping of God, the powers of the world are laid level with the earth from the lowest thoughts. For by a root the hidden thought is rightly denoted, because by means of that which is not seen, being within, there bursts out what should be seen without. Therefore, on the side of good it is said by the prophet, “And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. As though it were expressed in plain speech; “Deep down below the thought springs up, that up on high the reward may be rendered back.” So then, let him say, “He stretches out his hand to the flint and overturns the mountains from the roots.” While the sacred preaching sought the hardness of the Gentiles, it entirely frustrated the loftiness of the proud, however, because those it empties of earthly thoughts, it fills with heavenly gifts. Moreover, those whom it drains of interest below, it waters with streams from above. It is directly added, “He cuts out streams in the rocks,” that is, in the hard hearts of the Gentiles he opened the rivers of preaching; as it is likewise spoken by the prophet of watering the dryness of the Gentiles, “He turns the wilderness into a standing water and dry ground into water springs.”
Gregory the DialogistAD 604
58. i.e. in the hard hearts of the Gentiles he opened the rivers of preaching; as it is likewise spoken by the Prophet of watering the dryness of the Gentiles; He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into water springs. [Ps. 107, 35] And in the Gospel the Lord promises, saying, He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. [John 7, 38] What we then heard promised, we now see fulfilled. For see how in the holy preachers, not sprung from Judaea, through the universal Church spread over the whole world, streams of heavenly precepts flow forth in abundance from the mouths of the Gentiles. Thus because in the rocks He opened streams, from hard hearts too there flowed forth the river of holy preaching. It goes on;
And his eye hath seen every precious thing.
59. It is a thing to be especially borne in mind, that each individual soul is rendered the more precious in the sight of God, by bow much it is for Jove of the truth the more despised in its own eyes. When thou wast little in thine own sight, did I not make thee the head of the tribes of Israel? [1 Sam. 15, 17] As if he said in plain terms, ‘‘Thou wast great with Me, because thou wast contemptible to thyself, but now because thou art great to thyself, thou art become contemptible to Me.’ And hence it is said by the Prophet; Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Thus every man becomes the more worthless to God, in proportion as he is more precious to himself, so much the more precious to God as he is for His sake more worthless to himself; because He regardeth the lowly, and knoweth the high afar off. Every precious thing, therefore, His eye saw. [Ps. 138, 6] In Holy Scripture God’s ‘seeing’ is put for ‘choosing,’ as it is written in the Gospel; When thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee, [John 1, 48] i.e. I chose thee whilst placed under the shadow of the Law.’ Therefore He ‘saw every thing precious,’ because He chose the lowly. God hath chosen the weak things of the world to co1ifound the things which are mighty. He’ saw the precious thing’ when the human soul, having base views of itself, He visited with the illumination of His grace. Of which same soul it is said by the Prophet; If thou separatest the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth. [Jer. 15, 19] For the present world is vile with God, but the soul of man is precious to Him. He, then, that ‘separates the precious from the vile’ is called ‘as the month of God,’ because by that man God deals forth His words, who by speaking the things that he is able to speak, plucks out the soul of man from the love of the present world. And because the teachers of the New Testament are brought to this, that even the hidden darkness of allegories in the Old Testament they search out.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Job 28:10 offers a profound testament to humanity's remarkable ingenuity, relentless perseverance, and acute observational skills in the arduous pursuit of earthly treasures. This verse vividly depicts ancient miners' extraordinary labor as they literally reshape the earth's hardened crust, carving intricate channels through solid rock to access and discern every hidden, valuable mineral. It powerfully illustrates humanity's capacity to overcome immense natural obstacles and meticulously identify worth, thereby setting a crucial stage for the chapter's ultimate theological contrast: the unsearchable and divinely revealed nature of true wisdom, which far surpasses any earthly discovery or human endeavor.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Job 28:10 is exceptionally rich in Imagery, painting a vivid and visceral picture of the miner's arduous and dangerous work. The phrase "cutteth out rivers among the rocks" employs a powerful Metaphor where "rivers" represent the man-made channels or tunnels. This metaphor evokes the natural, immense power of water to carve through stone, but here attributes that same transformative, landscape-altering power to human hands, thereby elevating human effort to an almost geological scale. This also contains an element of Hyperbole, exaggerating the scale of human endeavor to emphasize its extraordinary nature and the incredible lengths to which humanity will go. The verse further uses Personification by attributing a keen, discerning "eye" to the miner, highlighting the human capacity for meticulous observation and the specialized skill required to identify hidden value in the darkness. Implicitly, the entire verse also sets up a profound Juxtaposition or Contrast, laying the groundwork for the chapter's overarching theological theme: the immense human effort and success in finding earthly treasures is starkly contrasted with the ultimate elusiveness of divine wisdom, which cannot be found by such means or purchased with such riches.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Job 28:10, while celebrating human ingenuity and perseverance, serves as a crucial theological pivot within the chapter. It establishes the pinnacle of human capability in discovering and extracting physical wealth, yet this very achievement is then dramatically dwarfed by the unsearchable nature of divine wisdom. The verse implicitly raises the profound question: if humanity can achieve such mastery over the earth's hidden treasures, why can it not find wisdom? This highlights a fundamental distinction between human knowledge, which is limited to what can be observed, extracted, and understood through empirical effort, and divine wisdom, which is transcendent, originating from God, and accessible only through His revelation. God's "eye seeth every precious thing" not just in the earth's depths, but in the profound mysteries of His own being, His eternal counsel, and His redemptive plan, which are infinitely more profound than any earthly gem. This sets up the grand theological truth that true wisdom originates from God alone and is only truly accessible through His divine revelation and the "fear of the Lord."
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Job 28:10 invites us to marvel at the incredible human capacity for perseverance, innovation, and diligent observation. It serves as a powerful reminder that significant achievements in any field—whether scientific discovery, artistic creation, or daily vocational excellence—often demand immense effort, meticulous attention to detail, and a willingness to overcome formidable obstacles. We are called to reflect on what "treasures" we are most diligently seeking in our own lives and the "rocks" or challenges we are willing to "cut through" to obtain them. Are our greatest efforts directed towards fleeting earthly riches, temporary successes, or the pursuit of deeper, more enduring value? The chapter's broader message, powerfully illuminated by this verse, is a profound challenge: if we apply such extraordinary effort and keen discernment to finding earthly wealth, how much more should we apply ourselves to seeking the true wisdom that comes from God? This divine wisdom, unlike earthly treasures, is incorruptible, eternal, and provides genuine understanding, purpose, and lasting joy. It calls us to re-evaluate our priorities and direct our most fervent zeal towards knowing God and His transformative will.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What is the significance of "rivers" in this context?
Answer: In Job 28:10, "rivers" (Hebrew: yᵉʼôr) does not refer to natural flowing water bodies on the surface. Instead, it is a powerful and evocative metaphor for the deep, intricate channels, tunnels, or shafts that ancient miners painstakingly carved through solid rock. This imagery highlights the immense scale of human engineering and the sheer determination required to penetrate the earth's crust. These "rivers" were essential for accessing mineral veins, providing crucial ventilation in the dark, confined spaces, and, significantly, for draining underground water, which was a constant and dangerous challenge in deep mines. This demonstrates humanity's remarkable ability to reshape even the most unyielding natural environments in their relentless quest for hidden treasures.
How does this verse relate to the overall message of Job 28?
Answer: Job 28:10 is a foundational verse for understanding the chapter's profound theological argument. It vividly establishes humanity's remarkable ability to discover and extract earthly treasures, showcasing human ingenuity, perseverance, and observational skill. This detailed description of human mastery over the earth's hidden riches serves as a dramatic foil for the chapter's central, rhetorical question: "But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?" (Job 28:12). The verse sets up the powerful contrast, demonstrating that while humanity can conquer the earth's depths, true wisdom remains beyond its grasp. The chapter ultimately reveals that wisdom belongs solely to God and is revealed through "the fear of the Lord" (Job 28:28), which is a divine gift, not an earthly discovery.
Does this verse discourage human achievement or exploration?
Answer: No, the verse does not discourage human achievement or exploration; rather, it celebrates and marvels at it. It acknowledges the incredible feats of human engineering, labor, and discernment required to unearth the earth's hidden riches. However, its primary purpose within the broader chapter is to put human achievement into perspective. It shows that even humanity's greatest endeavors in discovering and extracting earthly value cannot lead to ultimate wisdom. The message is not to cease striving, but to recognize the limits of human knowledge and to understand that the most valuable "treasure"—true wisdom—is not found through human effort, wealth, or exploration, but is a divine gift from God, revealed on His terms.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Job 28:10, while celebrating human ingenuity and the arduous pursuit of earthly treasures, ultimately points to a greater, divine wisdom and a more profound "precious thing" embodied in Jesus Christ. The miner's painstaking work of "cutting out rivers among the rocks" to find "every precious thing" foreshadows the ultimate, costly work of God in Christ. Just as humanity delves into the earth for hidden treasures, God, in His infinite wisdom and love, has revealed the most precious treasure of all in His Son. Christ is the spiritual "rock" from which living water flows (1-corinthians/10-4), and through His crucifixion—a profound "cutting out" and breaking open of His body—the unsearchable riches of God's grace, mercy, and wisdom are made accessible to humanity (Ephesians 3:8). The "eye" that "seeth every precious thing" is ultimately God's, and what He saw as most precious was His only begotten Son, given to redeem a lost world (John 3:16). In Christ, "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3), far surpassing any earthly gem or mineral. Therefore, the diligent pursuit of earthly treasures in Job 28:10 finds its ultimate spiritual fulfillment in the divine pursuit and revelation of Christ, the true and eternal wisdom of God, who is more precious than any earthly possession.