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Contemporary English Version

Job 28:9

With their own hands they remove sharp rocks and uproot mountains.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Civil Engineering;   Continents;   Geology;   Mountain;   Readings, Select;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Mountains;   Rocks;  

Dictionaries:

- Easton Bible Dictionary - Mine;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Mines;   Holman Bible Dictionary - God;   Job, the Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Mining and Metals;   Rock;   Wisdom;   King James Dictionary - Root;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Mines, Mining;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Flint;   Mine;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The miner uses a flint tooland turns up ore from the root of the mountains.
Hebrew Names Version
He puts forth his hand on the flinty rock, And he overturns the mountains by the roots.
King James Version
He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots.
English Standard Version
"Man puts his hand to the flinty rock and overturns mountains by the roots.
New Century Version
Miners hit the rocks of flint and dig away at the bottom of the mountains.
New English Translation
On the flinty rock man has set to work with his hand; he has overturned mountains at their bases.
Amplified Bible
"Man puts his hand on [and tears apart] the flinty rock; He overturns the mountains at the base [looking for treasure].
New American Standard Bible
"He puts his hand on the flint; He overturns the mountains at the base.
World English Bible
He puts forth his hand on the flinty rock, And he overturns the mountains by the roots.
Geneva Bible (1587)
He putteth his hand vpon the rockes, & ouerthroweth the mountaines by the rootes.
Legacy Standard Bible
He sends his hand forth to the flint;He overturns the mountains at the base.
Berean Standard Bible
The miner strikes the flint; he overturns mountains at their base.
Complete Jewish Bible
"[The miner] attacks the flint, overturns mountains at their roots,
Darby Translation
[Man] putteth forth his hand upon the flinty rock, he overturneth the mountains by the root.
Easy-to-Read Version
Miners dig the hardest rocks. They dig away at the mountains and make them bare.
George Lamsa Translation
The miner puts forth his hand upon the hard rock to break it; he overturns the mountains from their foundations.
Good News Translation
Miners dig the hardest rocks, Dig mountains away at their base.
Lexham English Bible
He puts his hand on the hard rock; he overturns mountains by the roots.
Literal Translation
He places his hand on the flint places; He overturns mountains by the roots.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
There putteth he his honde vpon the stony rockes, & ouerthroweth the mountaynes.
American Standard Version
He putteth forth his hand upon the flinty rock; He overturneth the mountains by the roots.
Bible in Basic English
Man puts out his hand on the hard rock, overturning mountains by the roots.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
He putteth forth his hand upon the flinty rock; He overturneth the mountains by the roots.
King James Version (1611)
Hee putteth foorth his hand vpon the rocke; hee ouerturneth the mountaines by the rootes.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
[There] putteth he his hande vpon the stonie rockes, and ouerthroweth the mountaynes by the rootes.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
He has stretched forth his hand on the sharp rock, and turned up mountains by the roots:
English Revised Version
He putteth forth his hand upon the flinty rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
God stretchide forth his hond to a flynt; he distriede hillis fro the rootis.
Update Bible Version
He puts forth his hand on the flinty rock; He overturns the mountains by the roots.
Webster's Bible Translation
He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots.
New King James Version
He puts his hand on the flint; He overturns the mountains at the roots.
New Living Translation
People know how to tear apart flinty rocks and overturn the roots of mountains.
New Life Bible
Man puts his hand on the hard rock. He turns the mountains over at its base.
New Revised Standard
"They put their hand to the flinty rock, and overturn mountains by the roots.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Upon the flint, hath he thrust forth his hand, He hath turned up mountains by the roots;
Douay-Rheims Bible
He hath stretched forth his hand to the flint, he hath overturned mountains from the roots.
Revised Standard Version
"Man puts his hand to the flinty rock, and overturns mountains by the roots.
Young's Literal Translation
Against the flint he sent forth his hand, He overturned from the root mountains.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"He puts his hand on the flint; He overturns the mountains at the base.

Contextual Overview

1 Job Continues Gold and silver are mined, then purified; 2 the same is done with iron and copper. 3 Miners carry lanterns deep into the darkness to search for these metals. 4 They dig tunnels in distant, unknown places, where they dangle by ropes. 5 Far beneath the grain fields, fires are built to break loose those rocks 6 that have jewels or gold. 7 Miners go to places unseen by the eyes of hawks; 8 they walk on soil unknown to the proudest lions. 9 With their own hands they remove sharp rocks and uproot mountains. 10 They dig through the rocks in search of jewels and precious metals.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

rock: or, flint

he overturneth: Nahum 1:4-6

Reciprocal: Job 9:5 - removeth

Cross-References

Genesis 26:34
When Esau was forty, he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
Genesis 28:13
The Lord was standing beside the ladder and said: I am the Lord God who was worshiped by Abraham and Isaac. I will give to you and your family the land on which you are now sleeping.
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 36:18
The clans that descended from Esau and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah were Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

He putteth forth his hand upon the rock,.... The discourse is carried on concerning the miner, and digger in the earth for metals and precious stones; who meeting with a rock or flint, and a ridge of them, is not discouraged, but goes to work therewith, and with his hammer in his hand lays upon the rock or flint, and beats it to pieces, and with proper instruments cuts through it; and using fire and vinegar, as Pliny g observes, makes his way into it, and oftentimes by splitting it discovers gold h or silver, or precious stones, in it:

he overturneth the mountains by the roots; or turns them up from the roots; he roots them up, he undermines them; he turns up the earth at the roots of them, to get what is hid at the bottom, or in the bowels of them. Some understand this, and what is said in the following verses, of God, and of wonderful things done by him; so Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and others; and to whom indeed such things are sometimes ascribed in Scripture: he touches the hills, and they smoke, Psalms 104:32; lays his hand on the rock, and removes it out of its place, Job 14:18; it was he that smote and opened the rock at Horeb, and the waters gushed out, Exodus 17:6; yea, turned the rock into standing water, and the flint into a fountain of water, Psalms 114:8: and he, in a figurative sense, has laid his hand on the rock Christ, and smote him with the rod of justice, whereby the blessings of grace come flowing down upon his people; and he it is that puts forth his hand of powerful and efficacious grace upon the rocky hearts of men, and with the hammer of his word breaks them to pieces, Jeremiah 23:29, and takes away the stony heart, and gives an heart of flesh, Ezekiel 11:19: and he also, in a literal sense, overturns hills and mountains by their roots, through storms, and tempests, and earthquakes; and figuratively, kingdoms and states, that lie in the way of his interest; for what are these mountains before the great Zerubbabel? they soon and easily become a plain; and so breaks through all difficulties, which proverbially may be signified by removing mountains, that seem to obstruct and hinder the conversion and salvation of his people; he makes those mountains a way, and his highways are exalted; see Song of Solomon 2:8; but the former sense is best, and most agreeable to the context.

g Nat. Hist. l. 33. c. 4. "----Montem rumpit aceto", Juvenal. Sat. 10. v. 153. h lbid.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He putteth forth his hand - That is, the miner in securing the precious metals and gems.

Upon the rock - Margin, “flint.” The word used here (חלמישׁ challâmı̂ysh) occurs also in Psalms 104:8. Deuteronomy 8:15; Deuteronomy 32:13. It means “flint, silex;” and the idea is, that the miner approaches the hardest substances. He penetrates even the flint in searching for precious stones. Dr. Good renders it, “Sparry ore.” Michaelis renders the same word in Deuteronomy 7:15, porphyry, or red granite. The idea is that nothing, however difficult, not even cutting down the hardest rocks, deters the miner from pursuing his work.

He overturneth the mountains by the roots - That is, he digs under them, and they fall. The root of a mountain means its base or foundation. The following passage from Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxxiii. c. iv. 21) furnishes an admirable illustration of this passage: Tamen in silice facilior existimatur labor. Est namque terra ex quodam argillae genere glarae mixta, Candidam vocant, prope inexpugnabilis. Cuneis earn ferreis aggrediuntur, et iisdem mallets; nihilque durius putant, nisi quod inter omnia auri lama durissima est. Peracto opere cervices fornicum ab ultimo caedunt, dantque signun ruinrae, eamque solus intelligit in cacumine montis pervigil. Hic voce, ictuque, repente operarios revocari jubet, pariterque ipse devolat. Mons fractus cadit in scse Iongo fragore, qui concipi humana mente non possit, et flatu incredibili. Spectant victores ruinam naturae.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 28:9. He putteth forth his hand upon the rock, — Still there appears to be a reference to mining. Man puts his hand upon the rock, he breaks that to pieces, in order to extract the metals which it contains.

He overturneth the mountains — He excavates, undermines, or digs them away, when in search of the metals contained in them: this is not only poetically, but literally, the case in many instances.


 
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