Parallel Bible VersionsNASB/KJV Study BibleHebrew Bible Study Tools

Job 28:1

New American Standard Bible (NASB ©1995) [2]
— “Surely there is a mine for silver And a place where they refine gold.
King James Version (KJV 1769) [2]
— Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold [where] they fine [it].
English Revised Version (ERV 1885)
— Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold which they refine.
American Standard Version (ASV 1901) [2]
— Surely there is a mine for silver, And a place for gold which they refine.
Webster's Revision of the KJB (WEB 1833)
— Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold [where] they fine [it].
Darby's Translation (DBY 1890)
— Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold which they refine;
Rotherham's Emphasized Bible (EBR 1902)
— Though there is, for silver, a vein, and a place for the gold they refine;
Young's Literal Translation (YLT 1898)
— Surely there is for silver a source, And a place for the gold they refine;
Douay-Rheims Challoner Revision (DR 1750)
— Silver hath beginnings of its veins, and gold hath a place wherein it is melted.
Geneva Bible (GNV 1560)
— The siluer surely hath his veyne, and ye gold his place, where they take it.
Original King James Bible (AV 1611) [2]
— Surely there is a veine for the siluer, and a place for golde [where] they fine [it].
Lamsa Bible (1957)
— SURELY there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined.
Brenton Greek Septuagint (LXX, Restored Names)
— For there is a place for the silver, whence it comes, and a place for the gold, whence it is refined.
Full Hebrew Names / Holy Name KJV (2008) [2] [3]
— Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold [where] they fine [it].

Strong's Numbers & Hebrew NamesHebrew Old TestamentColor-Code/Key Word Studies
Surely y3426
[3426] Standard
יֵשׁ
yesh
{yaysh}
Perhaps from an unused root meaning to stand out, or exist; entity; used adverbially or as a copula for the substantive verb (H1961); there is or are (or any other form of the verb to be, as may suit the connection).
x3588
(3588) Complement
כִּי
kiy
{kee}
A primitive particle (the full form of the prepositional prefix) indicating causal relations of all kinds, antecedent or consequent; (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjugation or adverb; often largely modified by other particles annexed.
there is x3426
(3426) Complement
יֵשׁ
yesh
{yaysh}
Perhaps from an unused root meaning to stand out, or exist; entity; used adverbially or as a copula for the substantive verb (H1961); there is or are (or any other form of the verb to be, as may suit the connection).
a vein 4161
{4161} Prime
מוֹצָא
mowtsa'
{mo-tsaw'}
From H3318; a going forth, that is, (the act) an egress, or (the place) an exit; hence a source or product; specifically dawn, the rising of the sun (the East), exportation, utterance, a gate, a fountain, a mine, a meadow (as producing grass).
for the silver, 3701
{3701} Prime
כֶּסֶף
keceph
{keh'-sef}
From H3700; silver (from its pale color); by implication money.
and a place 4725
{4725} Prime
מָקוֹם
maqowm
{maw-kome'}
From H6965; properly a standing, that is, a spot; but used widely of a locality (generally or specifically); also (figuratively) of a condition (of body or mind).
for gold 2091
{2091} Prime
זָהָב
zahab
{zaw-hawb'}
From an unused root meaning to shimmer; gold; figuratively something gold colored (that is, yellow), as oil, a clear sky.
[where] they fine 2212
{2212} Prime
זְקַק
zaqaq
{zaw-kak'}
A primitive root; to strain, (figuratively) extract, clarify.
z8799
<8799> Grammar
Stem - Qal (See H8851)
Mood - Imperfect (See H8811)
Count - 19885
[it].
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary

Job 28:1

_ _ Job 28:1-28. Job’s speech continued.

_ _ In the twenty-seventh chapter Job had tacitly admitted that the statement of the friends was often true, that God vindicated His justice by punishing the wicked here; but still the affliction of the godly remained unexplained. Man has, by skill, brought the precious metals from their concealment. But the Divine Wisdom, which governs human affairs, he cannot similarly discover (Job 28:12, etc.). However, the image from the same metals (Job 23:10) implies Job has made some way towards solving the riddle of his life; namely, that affliction is to him as the refining fire is to gold.

_ _ vein — a mine, from which it goes forth, Hebrew, “is dug.”

_ _ place for gold — a place where gold may be found, which men refine. Not as English Version, “A place — where,” (Malachi 3:3). Contrasted with gold found in the bed and sand of rivers, which does not need refining; as the gold dug from a mine does. Golden ornaments have been found in Egypt, of the times of Joseph.

Matthew Henry's Commentary

Job 28:1-11

_ _ 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, Proverbs 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 (Psalms 104:24) and infer thence, not only how great a God he is whose the earth is and the fulness thereof (Psalms 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 venduntLabour 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?

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Job 28:1

Surely — Job having in the last chapter discoursed of God's various providences toward wicked men, and shewed that God doth sometimes, for a season, give them prosperity, but afterwards calls them to a sad account, and having shewed that God doth sometimes prosper the wicked all their days, so they live and die without any visible token of God's displeasure, when on the contrary, good men are exercised with many calamities; and perceiving that his friends were, scandalized at these methods of Divine providence, and denied the thing, because they could not understand the reason of such dispensations: in this chapter he declares that this is one of the depths of Divine wisdom, not discoverable by any mortal man, and that although men had some degree of wisdom whereby they could search out many hidden things, as the veins of silver, and gold, yet this was a wisdom of an higher nature, and out of man's reach. The caverns of the earth he may discover, but not the counsels of heaven.

Geneva Bible Translation Notes

Job 28:1

Surely there is a vein for the silver, (a) and a place for gold [where] they fine [it].

(a) His purpose is to declare that man may attain in this world to various secrets of nature, but man is never able to comprehend the wisdom of God.

Cross-Reference Topical ResearchStrong's Concordance
vein:
or, mine

the silver:

Genesis 2:11-12 The name of the first [is] Pison: that [is] it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where [there is] gold; ... And the gold of that land [is] good: there [is] bdellium and the onyx stone.
Genesis 23:15 My lord, hearken unto me: the land [is worth] four hundred shekels of silver; what [is] that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead.
Genesis 24:22 And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten [shekels] weight of gold;
1 Kings 7:48-50 And Solomon made all the vessels that [pertained] unto the house of the LORD: the altar of gold, and the table of gold, whereupon the shewbread [was], ... And the bowls, and the snuffers, and the basons, and the spoons, and the censers [of] pure gold; and the hinges [of] gold, [both] for the doors of the inner house, the most holy [place, and] for the doors of the house, [to wit], of the temple.
1 Kings 10:21 And all king Solomon's drinking vessels [were of] gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon [were of] pure gold; none [were of] silver: it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon.
1 Chronicles 29:2-5 Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for [things to be made] of gold, and the silver for [things] of silver, and the brass for [things] of brass, the iron for [things] of iron, and wood for [things] of wood; onyx stones, and [stones] to be set, glistering stones, and of divers colours, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance. ... The gold for [things] of gold, and the silver for [things] of silver, and for all manner of work [to be made] by the hands of artificers. And who [then] is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the LORD?

where they fine it:

Psalms 12:6 The words of the LORD [are] pure words: [as] silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
Proverbs 17:3 The fining pot [is] for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.
Proverbs 27:21 [As] the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so [is] a man to his praise.
Isaiah 48:10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
Zechariah 13:9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It [is] my people: and they shall say, The LORD [is] my God.
Malachi 3:2-3 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he [is] like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: ... And he shall sit [as] a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
1 Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
Random Bible VersesNew Quotes



Chain-Reference Bible SearchCross References with Concordance

Gn 2:11; 23:15; 24:22. 1K 7:48; 10:21. 1Ch 29:2. Ps 12:6. Pv 17:3; 27:21. Is 48:10. Zc 13:9. Mal 3:2. 1P 1:7.

Newest Chat Bible Comment
Comment HereExpand User Bible CommentaryComplete Biblical ResearchComplete Chat Bible Commentary
Recent Chat Bible Comments