Job 28:11
in Job 28He stops up the sources of the streams to bring what is hidden to light.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He bindeth the streams that they trickle not; And the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.
KJV
He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.
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This verse in Job 28
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
He bindeth the floods from overflowing - Margin, Weeping The Hebrew also is “from weeping” מבכי mı̂bekı̂y; referring to the water which trickles down the shaft of the mine. The idea is, that even the large streams which break out in such mines, the fountains and springs which the miner encounters in his operations, he so effectually restrains that they do not even trickle down or “weep” on the sides of the shaft, but it is left perfectly dry. This is necessary in opening mines of coal or minerals, and in making tunnels or other excavations.
This site's exposition
He hews out channels in the rocks
on Job 28:10-11
"He stops up the sources of the streams to bring what is hidden to light", and that line states the work of the whole passage. Every buried thing man can reach by labor is set against the one thing labor cannot reach, which verse 12 names.
This site's exposition
He stops up the sources of the streams
Barnes notes that the Hebrew reads from weeping, the water that trickles down the miner's shaft. Clarke pictures the miner damming springs and turning streams to bring hidden ore to light. Henry sets all this labour beside the question of verse 12.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XVIII · Written before 604.
proposed
The depths also of the floods He hath searched, and the hidden things He hath brought to light. 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, it is rightly added; The depths also of the floods He hath searched, and the hidden things He hath brought to light. For what else are here called 'floods' but the sayings of the ancient Fathers. For who might be able to estimate how vehement a flood, whilst he was founding the Law, burst forth from the very breast of Moses? how vehement a flood gushed from the heart of David? what mighty streams of floods flowed out from the lips of Solomon and all the Prophets? Now of these 'floods' Judaea held the shew, when in keeping the surface of the letter she knew not the depths thereof. But we, who, on the Lord coming, seek therein interior spiritual things, search their 'depths.' And this thing the Lord is Himself said to do, because by Himself vouchsafing it we are enabled to do it; and so by us, who follow not the letter which killeth, but the spirit which maketh alive, the Lord 'searcheth the depths of the floods, and bringeth the hidden things into light,' because the statements of the Law, which the too dark history makes obscure, a spiritual interpretation now lights up. And hence 'Truth' when speaking in parables in the Gospel bade the Disciples, saying, What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light; and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye on the house tops. For the plainly spoken words of these interpreting have made the sentences of the ancient Fathers henceforth clear to us. Hence the Prophet Isaiah viewing the words plain by the interpretation of Holy Church, not obscured by the darkness of allegories, exclaimed, saying, The place of rivers, the broadest and open streams. […]
For if he can lay the mountains low, if he can cut through rocks and exercise the same power over all the earth, he consequently can see the precious things which are hidden there although the eye of man cannot see them. His eye not …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
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?
), 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.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
), and yet asks, " Where is wisdom? for it is not here." This their way is their folly. We must therefore seek it somewhere else, and it will be found nowhere but in the principles and practices of religion.
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2 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
He bindeth the floods from overflowing,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
He bindeth the floods - Prevents the risings of springs from drowning the mines; and conducts rivers and streams from their wonted course, in order to bring forth to light what was hidden under their beds. The binding or restraining the water, which, at different depths, annoys the miner, is both difficult and expensive: in some cases it may be drawn off by pipes or canals into neighboring water courses; in others, it is conducted to one receptacle or reservoir, and thence drawn off. In Europe it is generally done by means of steam-engines. What method the ancients had in mining countries, we cannot tell; but they dug deep in order to find out the riches of the earth. Pliny says, nervously, Imus in viscera terrae; et in sede manium opes quaerimus. “We descend into the bowels of the earth; and seek for wealth even in the abodes of departed spirits.” The manes or ghosts of the dead, or spirits presiding over the dead, were supposed to have their habitation in the center of the earth; or in the deepest pits and caves. Ovid, speaking of the degeneracy of men in the iron age, Met. lib. i., ver. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
In the rocks, He split rivers He refers back to the beginning of his topic, that he said that everything has a source.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מִ֭בְּכִי | mibekhi | from weeping | H1065 → | |
| נְהָר֣וֹת | neharot | rivers | H5104 → | 119 times |
| חִבֵּ֑שׁ | chibesh | he restrains | H2280 → | 33 times |
| וְ֝תַעֲלֻמָ֗הּ | vetaalumah | and secret her | H8587 → | |
| יֹ֣צִא | yotzi' | he brings out | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| אֽוֹר׃ פ | ʾor | light | H216 → | 121 times |
מִ֭בְּכִיfrom weeping
mibekhiH1065 →
נְהָר֣וֹתrivers
neharotH5104 →119 times
חִבֵּ֑שׁhe restrains
chibeshH2280 →33 times
וְ֝תַעֲלֻמָ֗הּand secret her
vetaalumahH8587 →
יֹ֣צִאhe brings out
yotzi'H3318 →1067 times
אֽוֹר׃ פlight
ʾorH216 →121 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Corinthians 4:5Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each…
it leads to
- James 5:7
Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer awaits the precious fruit of the soil—how patient he is for the fall and spring rains.
- 2 Corinthians 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.
- 1 Corinthians 3:13
his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work.
- Hebrews 4:13
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
- 2 Corinthians 10:18
For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
- James 5:7
Through
Job 26:8He wraps up the waters in His clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their own weight.
it leads to
- Job 37:11–16
He loads the clouds with moisture; He scatters His lightning through them.
- Proverbs 30:4
Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in His hands? Who has bound up the waters in His cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth?…
- Jeremiah 10:13
When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from…
- Job 37:11–16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVIII; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.