Job 28:16-18
Authorized (King James) Version
16 It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir,
with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
17 The gold and the crystal cannot equal it:
and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold.
18 No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls:
for the price of wisdom is above rubies.
Job 28:16-18
New English Translation
16 It cannot be measured out for purchase[a] with the gold of Ophir,
with precious onyx[b] or sapphires.
17 Neither gold nor crystal[c] can be compared with it,
nor can a vase[d] of gold match its worth.
18 Of coral and jasper no mention will be made;
the price[e] of wisdom is more than pearls.[f]
Footnotes
- Job 28:16 tn The word actually means “weighed,” that is, lifted up on the scale and weighed, in order to purchase.
- Job 28:16 tn The exact identification of these stones is uncertain. Many recent English translations, however, have “onyx” and “sapphires.”
- Job 28:17 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.
- Job 28:17 tc The MT has “vase,” but the versions have a plural here, suggesting jewels of gold.
- Job 28:18 tn The word מֶשֶׁךְ (meshekh) comes from a root meaning “to grasp; to seize; to hold,” and so the derived noun means “grasping; acquiring; taking possession,” and therefore, “price” (see the discussion in R. Gordis, Job, 309). Gray renders it “acquisition” (so A. Cohen, AJSL 40 [1923/24]: 175).
- Job 28:18 tn In Lam 4:7 these are described as red, and so have been identified as rubies (so NIV) or corals.
KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK.
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