Job 28:16
in Job 28It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, With the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
KJV
It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
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This verse in Job 28
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThe gold of Ophir - Gold is five times mentioned in this and Job 28:17 and Job 28:19, and four of the times in different words. I shall consider them all at once. 1. סגור Segor, from סגר sagar, to shut up. Gold. in the mine, or shut up in the ore; native gold washed by the streams out of the mountains, etc.; unwrought gold. Job 28:16 2. כתם Kethem, from כתם catham, to sign or stamp: gold made current by being coined, or stamped with its weight or value; what we would call standard or sterling gold.
This site's exposition
It cannot be bought with gold
on Job 28:15-17
"It cannot be bought with gold, nor can its price be weighed out in silver" begins the list of prices. "It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir", the most prized gold of the ancient world. Clarke reads the list as cumulative, each named treasure raising the bar.
This site's exposition
It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir
Barnes notes that the gold of Ophir is always named as the most precious gold, as at Job 22:24. Clarke counts five mentions of gold in verses 16 to 19, four of them in different Hebrew words. Every treasure of verses 1 to 11 falls short of wisdom.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Besides these metals there are some very precious stones of different colors which are especially cultivated in India, he then says about these, "She (wisdom) cannot be compared with the sparkling colors of India," i.e. the precious stones of diverse colors naturally tinted in India. …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XVIII · Written before 604.
proposed
Nor shall it be compared to the dyed colours of India. Nor to the most precious sardonyx stone, nor to the sapphire. For what is meant by India, which furnishes a black people, saving this world, wherein the life of man is engendered dark in respect of sin? Now 'the dyed colours of India' are the wise ones of this world, who though in respect of infidelity, and oftentimes in respect of behaviour, they be foul, yet before the eyes of men are stained with the hue of overlaid honourableness.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
More valued formerly than now. The term is Greek, meaning "thumb nail," from some resemblance in color. The Arabic denotes, of two colors, white preponderating.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The gold of Ophir - Uniformly spoken of as the most precious gold; see the notes at Job 22:24. With the precious onyx - The onyx is a semi-pellucid gem, with variously colored veins or zones. It is a variety of the chalcedony. The Arabic word denotes that which was of two colors, where the white predominated. The Greeks gave the name “onyx” ὄνυξ onux to the gem from its resemblance to the color of the thumbnail; see Passow. Or the sapphire - See the notes at Job 28:6.
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תְ֭סֻלֶּה | tesuleh | it will be paid | H5541 → | |
| בְּכֶ֣תֶם | bekhetem | in [the] gold of | H3800 → | 9 times |
| אוֹפִ֑יר | ʾofir | Ophir | H211 → | |
| בְּשֹׁ֖הַם | beshoham | in onyx | H7718 → | |
| יָקָ֣ר | yakar | precious | H3368 → | |
| וְסַפִּֽיר׃ | vesapir | and sapphire | H5601 → |
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
תְ֭סֻלֶּהit will be paid
tesulehH5541 →
בְּכֶ֣תֶםin [the] gold of
bekhetemH3800 →9 times
אוֹפִ֑ירOphir
ʾofirH211 →
בְּשֹׁ֖הַםin onyx
beshohamH7718 →
יָקָ֣רprecious
yakarH3368 →
וְסַפִּֽיר׃and sapphire
vesapirH5601 →
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
Ezekiel 28:13You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every kind of precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald. Your mountings and settings were crafted in…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 28:15
From the day you were created you were blameless in your ways—until wickedness was found in you.
- Ezekiel 27:16
Aram was your customer because of your many products; they exchanged turquoise, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, coral, and rubies for your wares.
- Genesis 2:8
And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed.
- Ezekiel 28:15
Through
Psalms 45:9The daughters of kings are among your honored women; the queen stands at your right hand, adorned with the gold of Ophir.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 2:19
So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. The king stood up to greet her, bowed to her, and sat down on his throne. Then the king had a throne…
- Revelation 21:9
Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls full of the seven final plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
- Revelation 21:2
I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
- Ephesians 5:26–27
to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
- 1 Kings 2:19
Through
Isaiah 13:12I will make man scarcer than pure gold, and mankind rarer than the gold of Ophir.
it leads to
- Isaiah 4:1
In that day seven women will take hold of one man and say, “We will eat our own bread and provide our own clothes. Just let us be called by your name. Take away…
- Isaiah 4:1
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVIII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.