Job 28:22

Contemporary English Version

Death and destruction have merely heard rumors about where it is found.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Abaddon and Death say,“We have heard news of it with our ears.”

Hebrew Names Version
Destruction and Death say, 'We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.'

King James Version
Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.

English Standard Version
Abaddon and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.'

New Century Version
The places of destruction and death say, ‘We have heard reports about it.'

New English Translation
Destruction and Death say, ‘With our ears we have heard a rumor about where it can be found.'

Amplified Bible
"Abaddon (the place of destruction) and Death say, 'We have [only] heard a report of it with our ears.'

New American Standard Bible
"Abaddon and Death say, 'With our ears we have heard a report of it.'

World English Bible
Destruction and Death say, 'We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.'

Geneva Bible (1587)
Destruction and death say, We haue heard the fame thereof with our eares.

Legacy Standard Bible
Abaddon and Death say,‘With our ears we have heard a report of it.'

Berean Standard Bible
Abaddon and Death say, 'We have heard a rumor about it.'

Complete Jewish Bible
Destruction and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor about it with our ears.'

Darby Translation
Destruction and death say, We have heard its report with our ears.

Easy-to-Read Version
Death and destruction say, ‘We have never seen wisdom; we have only heard rumors about it.'

George Lamsa Translation
Destruction and death say, We have heard the report of it with our ears.

Good News Translation
Even death and destruction Admit they have heard only rumors.

Lexham English Bible
Abaddon and Death say, ‘We heard its rumor with our ears.'

Literal Translation
the Place of Ruin and Death say, We have heard its fame with our ears.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Destruccion & death saie: we haue herde tell of her wt oure eares.

American Standard Version
Destruction and Death say, We have heard a rumor thereof with our ears.

Bible in Basic English
Destruction and Death say, We have only had word of it with our ears.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Destruction and Death say: 'We have heard a rumor thereof with our ears.'

King James Version (1611)
Destruction and death say, Wee haue heard the fame thereof with our eares.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Destruction and death say, We haue hearde the fame therof with our eares.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Destruction and Death said, We have heard the report of it.

English Revised Version
Destruction and Death say, We have heard a rumour thereof with our ears.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Perdicioun and deeth seiden, With oure eeris we herden the fame therof.

Update Bible Version
Destruction and Death say, We have heard a rumor thereof with our ears.

Webster's Bible Translation
Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame of it with our ears.

New King James Version
Destruction and Death say, "We have heard a report about it with our ears.'

New Living Translation
Destruction and Death say, ‘We've heard only rumors of where wisdom can be found.'

New Life Bible
The Place That Destroys and Death say, ‘We have only heard about it with our ears.'

New Revised Standard
Abaddon and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.'

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Destruction and death, have said, With our ears, have we heard the report thereof!

Douay-Rheims Bible
Destruction and death have said: With our ears we have heard the fame thereof.

Revised Standard Version
Abaddon and Death say, 'We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.'

Young's Literal Translation
Destruction and death have said: `With our ears we have heard its fame.'

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Abaddon and Death say, 'With our ears we have heard a report of it.'

Contextual Overview

²⁰ Where then is wisdom? ²¹ It is hidden from human eyes and even from birds. ²² Death and destruction have merely heard rumors about where it is found. ²³ God is the only one who knows the way to wisdom, ²⁴ because he sees everything beneath the heavens. ²⁵ When God divided out the wind and the water, ²⁶ and when he decided the path for rain and lightning, ²⁷ he also determined the truth and defined wisdom. ²⁸ God told us, "Wisdom means that you respect me, the Lord, and turn from sin."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Destruction: Job 28:14, Psalms 83:10-12

Reciprocal: Job 26:6 - destruction Job 28:13 - in the land Job 42:5 - heard

Cross-References

Genesis 12:8
Abram traveled to the hill country east of Bethel and camped between Bethel and Ai, where he built another altar and worshiped the Lord .

Genesis 14:20
All praise belongs to God Most High for helping you defeat your enemies." Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything.

Genesis 21:33
Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and worshiped the eternal Lord God.

Genesis 28:14
Your descendants will spread over the earth in all directions and will become as numerous as the specks of dust. Your family will be a blessing to all people.

Genesis 28:15
Wherever you go, I will watch over you, then later I will bring you back to this land. I won't leave you—I will do all I have promised.

Genesis 28:17
Then Jacob became frightened and said, "This is a fearsome place! It must be the house of God and the ladder to heaven."

Genesis 28:22
This rock will be your house, and I will give back to you a tenth of everything you give me."

Genesis 33:20
then he set up his tents and built an altar there to honor the God of Israel.

Genesis 35:1
God told Jacob, "Return to Bethel, where I appeared to you when you were running from your brother Esau. Make your home there and build an altar for me."

Genesis 35:7
Jacob built an altar there and called it "God of Bethel," because that was the place where God had appeared to him when he was running from Esau.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Destruction and death say,.... Meaning the dead that are in the pit of destruction, the grave; not their dead bodies there, devoid of life and sense, and know not anything, but their souls; either the damned in hell, or the saints in heaven: the Targum is, the house of destruction, and the angel of death; or rather it regards such as are dead, who while alive had only a report of this wisdom; wherefore if their records and writings, or traditions handed down from them, are inquired into, the result of the information they will give concerning it will amount to no more than this:

we have heard the fame thereof with our ears; it has been reported to us there is such wisdom, but what it is we know not; and this is all that we can say about it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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. It was on this belief, and on the hope that some league or alliance could be made with the dead, inducing them to communicate what they knew, that the science of necromancy was founded; see the notes at Isaiah 8:19.

We have heard the fame thereof - We have heard the report of it, or a rumor of it. The meaning is, that they did not understand it fully, and that if man could penetrate to those dark regions, he could not get the information which he desired. Wisdom is still at such an immense distance that it is only a report, or rumor of it, which has reached us.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 28:22. Destruction 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, Revelation 9:11, and is rendered by the Greek word Απολλυων, Apollyon, a word exactly of the same meaning. No wonder death and the devil are brought in here as saying they had heard the fame of wisdom, seeing Job 28:28 defines it to be the fear of the Lord, and a departure from evil; things point blank contrary to the interests of Satan, and the extension of the empire of death.