Job 28:22
in Job 28Abaddon and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor about it.’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Destruction and Death say, We have heard a rumor thereof with our ears.
KJV
Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.
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This verse in Job 28
Commentary
10 notes on this verseDestruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof - אבדון ומות Abaddon vamaveth, the destroyer, and his offspring death. This is the very name that is given to the devil in Greek letters Αβαδδων, Rev 9:11, and is rendered by the Greek word Απολλυων, Apollyon, a word exactly of the same meaning.
This site's exposition
From where then does wisdom come
on Job 28:20-22
"From where then does wisdom come, and where does understanding dwell?" repeats the question of verse 12 almost word for word, framing the list of prices. "Abaddon and Death say" they have only heard a rumor of it, the poem's farthest reach before it turns to God.
This site's exposition
Abaddon and Death say
Wesley reads Death as the grave, speaking as the depths and the sea spoke in verse 14. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that the living see wisdom at work while the dead have only heard of her. Clarke links Abaddon to the destroyer of Revelation 9:11.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
There are also some who seek the knowledge of the future from the dead, but not even this attains the origin of wisdom, and so he then says, "Ruin and death said: We have heard of her fame with our ears." He rightly attributes the …
Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears. Who are denoted by the title of 'destruction and death,' save the evil spirits, who proved the inventors of 'destruction and of death,' as of their leader himself under the appearance of his minister it is said by John, And his name was Death. Unto whom all spirits of pride being subject, say concerning this 'Wisdom,' Which is God, we have heard the fame thereof with our ears, in this way, that the vision thereof doubtless they could not have with complete blessedness.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
"Have a little patience," says Death to the inquisitive soul: "I will fetch thee shortly to a place where even this wisdom will be found." When the mystery of God shall be finished it will be laid open, and we shall know as we are known; when the veil of flesh is rent, and the interposing clouds are scattered, we shall know what God does, though we know not now, John xiii.
Death - The grave, the place of the dead, to 'which these things are here ascribed, as they are to the depths, and to the sea, by a common figure. Though they cannot give an account of it themselves yet there is a world, on which these dark regions border, where we shall see it clearly.
Destruction and death say,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
We have [only] heard--the report of her. In the land of the living (Job 28:13) the workings of Wisdom are seen, though not herself. In the regions of the dead she is only heard of, her actings on nature not being seen (Ec 9:10).
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Destruction - This is a personification which is exceedingly sublime. Job had spoken of the wonderful discoveries made by science, but none of them had disclosed true wisdom. It had not been discovered in the shaft which the miner sank deep in the earth; in the hidden regions which he laid open to day, nor by the birds that saw to the farthest distance, or that were regarded as the interpreters of the will of the gods. It was natural to ask whether it might not have been discovered in the vast profound of the nether world - the regions of death and of night; and whether by making a bold appeal to the king that reigned there, a response might not be heard that would be more satisfactory. In Job 28:14, the appeal had been made to the sea - with all its vast stores; here the appeal is to far deeper regions - to the nether world of darkness and of death. On the word used here (אבדון 'ăbaddôn), “destruction,” see the notes at Job 26:6. It is employed here, as in that place, to denote the nether world - the abode of departed spirits - the world where those are who have been destroyed by death, and to which the destruction of the grave is the entrance. And death - Death is used here to denote “Sheol,” or the abode of the spirits of the dead. The sense is, that those deep and dark regions had simply heard the distant report of wisdom but they did not understand it, and that if one went down there it would not be fully revealed to him. Perhaps there is an allusion to the natural expectation that, if one could go down and converse with the dead, he could find out much more than can be known on earth. It was to be presumed that they would understand much more about the unseen and future world, and about the plans and government of God, than man can know here. […]
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֲבַדּ֣וֹן | ʾavadon | Abaddon | H11 → | 5 times |
| וָ֭מָוֶת | vamavet | and death | H4194 → | 156 times |
| אָ֣מְר֑וּ | ʾameru | they say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| בְּ֝אָזְנֵ֗ינוּ | beazeneinu | with ears our | H241 → | 187 times |
| שָׁמַ֥עְנוּ | shama'nu | we have heard | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| שִׁמְעָֽהּ׃ | shimah | report its | H8088 → |
אֲבַדּ֣וֹןAbaddon
ʾavadonH11 →5 times
וָ֭מָוֶתand death
vamavetH4194 →156 times
אָ֣מְר֑וּthey say
ʾameruH559 →5305 times
בְּ֝אָזְנֵ֗ינוּwith ears our
beazeneinuH241 →187 times
שָׁמַ֥עְנוּwe have heard
shama'nuH8085 →1159 times
שִׁמְעָֽהּ׃report its
shimahH8088 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
6 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
Job 26:6Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.
it leads to
- Psalms 139:8
If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.
- Proverbs 15:11
Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD—how much more the hearts of men!
- 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.
- Amos 9:2
Though they dig down to Sheol, from there My hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, from there I will pull them down.
- Psalms 139:11
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light become night around me”—
- Psalms 139:8
Through
Job 28:14The ocean depths say, ‘It is not in me,’ while the sea declares, ‘It is not with me.’
it leads to
- Romans 11:33–34
O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!
- Romans 11:33–34
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); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XIX; 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); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.