The chat will start when you send the first message.
1“Surely there is a mine for silver,[#tn The poem opens with כִּי (ki). Some commentators think this should have been “for,” and that the poem once stood in another setting. But there are places in the Bible where this word occurs with the sense of “surely” and no other meaning (cf. Gen 18:20).; #tn The word מוֹצָא (motsa’, from יָצָא [yatsa’, “go out”]) is the word for “mine,” or more simply, “source.” Mining was not an enormous industry in the land of Canaan or Israel; mined products were imported. Some editors have suggested alternative readings: Dahood found in the word the root for “shine” and translated the MT as “smelter.” But that is going too far. P. Joüon suggested “place of finding,” reading מִמְצָא (mimtsa’) for מוֹצָא (motsa’; see Bib 11 [1930]: 323).]
and a place where gold is refined.
2Iron is taken from the ground,[#tn Heb “from dust.”]
and rock is poured out as copper.
3Man puts an end to the darkness;[#sn The text appears at first to be saying that by opening up a mine shaft, or by taking lights down below, the miner dispels the darkness. But the clause might be more general, meaning that man goes deep into the earth as if it were day.]
he searches the farthest recesses
for the ore in the deepest darkness.
4Far from where people live he sinks a shaft,[#tc The first part of this verse, “He cuts a shaft far from the place where people live,” has received a lot of attention. The word for “live” is גָּר (gar). Some of the proposals are: “limestone,” on the basis of the LXX; “far from the light,” reading נֵר (ner); “by a foreign people,” taking the word to means “foreign people”; “a foreign people opening shafts”; or taking gar as “crater” based on Arabic. Driver puts this and the next together: “a strange people who have been forgotten cut shafts” (see AJSL 3 [1935]: 162). L. Waterman had “the people of the lamp” (“Note on Job 28:4,” JBL 71 [1952]: 167ff). And there are others. Since there is really no compelling argument in favor of one of these alternative interpretations, the MT should be preserved until shown to be wrong.]
in places travelers have long forgotten,
far from other people he dangles and sways.
5The earth, from which food comes,
is overturned below as though by fire;
6a place whose stones are sapphires[#tn It is probably best to take “place” in construct to the rest of the colon, with an understood relative clause: “a place, the rocks of which are sapphires.”sn The modern stone known as sapphire is thought not to have been used until Roman times, and so some other stone is probably meant here, perhaps lapis lazuli.]
and which contains dust of gold;
7a hidden path no bird of prey knows –[#tn The “path” could refer to the mine shaft or it could refer to wisdom. The former seems more likely in the present context; the word “hidden is supplied in the translation to indicate the mines are “hidden” from sharp-eyed birds of prey above.]
no falcon’s eye has spotted it.
8Proud beasts have not set foot on it,[#tn Heb “the sons of pride.” In Job 41:26 the expression refers to carnivorous wild beasts.]
and no lion has passed along it.
9On the flinty rock man has set to work with his hand;[#tn The Hebrew verb is simply “to stretch out; to send” (שָׁלח, shalakh). With יָדוֹ (yado, “his hand”) the idea is that of laying one’s hand on the rock, i.e., getting to work on the hardest of rocks.]
he has overturned mountains at their bases.
10He has cut out channels through the rocks;[#tn Or “tunnels.” The word is יְאֹרִים (yÿ’orim), the word for “rivers” and in the singular, the Nile River. Here it refers to tunnels or channels through the rocks.]
his eyes have spotted every precious thing.
11He has searched the sources of the rivers[#tc The translation “searched” follows the LXX and Vulgate; the MT reads “binds up” or “dams up.” This latter translation might refer to the damming of water that might seep into a mine (HALOT 289 s.v. חבשׁ; cf. ESV, NJPS, NASB, REB, NLT).; #tc The older translations had “he binds the streams from weeping,” i.e., from trickling (מִבְּכִי, mibbÿkhi). But the Ugaritic parallel has changed the understanding, reading “toward the spring of the rivers” (`m mbk nhrm). Earlier than that discovery, the versions had taken the word as a noun as well. Some commentators had suggested repointing the Hebrew. Some chose מַבְּכֵי (mabbÿkhe, “sources”). Now there is much Ugaritic support for the reading (see G. M. Landes, BASOR 144 [1956]: 32f.; and H. L. Ginsberg, “The Ugaritic texts and textual criticism,” JBL 62 [1943]: 111).]
and what was hidden he has brought into the light.
12“But wisdom – where can it be found?
Where is the place of understanding?
13Mankind does not know its place;[#tc The LXX has “its way, apparently reading דַּרְכָה (darkhah) in place of עֶרְכָּהּ (’erkah, “place”). This is adopted by most modern commentators. But R. Gordis (Job, 308) shows that this change is not necessary, for עֶרֶךְ (’erekh) in the Bible means “order; row; disposition,” and here “place.” An alternate meaning would be “worth” (NIV, ESV).]
it cannot be found in the land of the living.
14The deep says, ‘It is not with me.’[#sn The תְּהוֹם (tÿhom) is the “deep” of Gen 1:2, the abyss or primordial sea. It was always understood to be a place of darkness and danger. As remote as it is, it asserts that wisdom is not found there (personification). So here we have the abyss and the sea, then death and destruction – but they are not the places that wisdom resides.; #tn The בּ (bet) preposition is taken here to mean “with” in the light of the parallel preposition.]
And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15Fine gold cannot be given in exchange for it,
nor can its price be weighed out in silver.
16It cannot be measured out for purchase with the gold of Ophir,[#tn The word actually means “weighed,” that is, lifted up on the scale and weighed, in order to purchase.]
with precious onyx or sapphires.
17Neither gold nor crystal can be compared with it,[#tn The word is from זָכַךְ (zakhakh, “clear”). It describes a transparent substance, and so “glass” is an appropriate translation. In the ancient world it was precious and so expensive.]
nor can a vase of gold match its worth.
18Of coral and jasper no mention will be made;
the price of wisdom is more than pearls.
19The topaz of Cush cannot be compared with it;[#tn Or “Ethiopia.” In ancient times this referred to the region of the upper Nile, rather than modern Ethiopia (formerly known as Abyssinia).]
it cannot be purchased with pure gold.
20“But wisdom – where does it come from?[#tn The refrain is repeated, except now the verb is תָּבוֹא (tavo’, “come”).]
Where is the place of understanding?
21For it has been hidden[#tn The vav on the verb is unexpressed in the LXX. It should not be overlooked, for it introduces a subordinate clause of condition (R. Gordis, Job, 310).]
from the eyes of every living creature,
and from the birds of the sky it has been concealed.
22Destruction and Death say,[#tn Heb “Abaddon.”]
‘With our ears we have heard a rumor about where it can be found.’
23God understands the way to it,
and he alone knows its place.
24For he looks to the ends of the earth
and observes everything under the heavens.
25When he made the force of the wind[#tn Heb “he gave weight to the wind.” The form is the infinitive construct with the ל (lamed) preposition. Some have emended it to change the preposition to the temporal בּ (bet) on the basis of some of the versions (e.g., Latin and Syriac) that have “who made.” This is workable, for the infinitive would then take on the finite tense of the previous verbs. An infinitive of purpose does not work well, for that would be saying God looked everywhere in order to give wind its proper weight (see R. Gordis, Job, 310).]
and measured the waters with a gauge.
26When he imposed a limit for the rain,[#tn Or “decree.”]
and a path for the thunderstorm,
27then he looked at wisdom and assessed its value;[#tn Heb “it”; the referent (wisdom) has been specified in the translation for clarity.; #tn The verb סָפַר (safar) in the Piel basically means “to tell; to declare; to show” or “to count; to number.” Many commentators offer different suggestions for the translation. “Declared” (as in the RSV, NASB, and NRSV) would be the simplest – but to whom did God declare it? Besides “appraised” which is the view of Pope, Dhorme and others (cf. NAB, NIV), J. Reider has suggested “probed” (“Etymological studies in biblical Hebrew,” VT 2 [1952]: 127), Strahan has “studied,” and Kissane has “reckoned.” The difficulty is that the line has a series of verbs, which seem to build to a climax; but without more details it is hard to know how to translate them when they have such a range of meaning.]
he established it and examined it closely.
28And he said to mankind,
‘The fear of theLord – that is wisdom,
and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”