complete verse (Job 28:1)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 28:1:

  • Kupsabiny: “There is a place where silver is mined/dug up
    and a place where gold is purified.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Surely, there is a silver mine,
    there is a place to refine gold. ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘There are mines where silver can-be-found, and there are places where gold are-refined.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “’It is true that there are places where men dig to find silver,
    and there are places where people refine/purify gold that they have dug.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Job 28:1

Surely there is a mine for silver: Surely translates the Hebrew word commonly translated “for” or “because.” It may seem strange to open a discourse with Surely; however, the Hebrew for Surely is frequently used to introduce an emphatic assertion. Translators may use whatever structure is available in the receptor language to supply this emphasis. In some languages this opening assertion may be something equivalent to “It is certain that,” “It is true,” or “Indeed it is so.”

Mine translates a word meaning “source” or “outlet” and normally refers to a place in the ground from which water flows. In the context of verse 1 it refers to the place of origin, and for the origin of a precious metal, mine is appropriate. In English the plural is more natural, as in Good News Translation. In Jeremiah 10.9 and Ezekiel 27.12, silver is said to be imported from Tarshish, possibly Tartessus in Spain. A mine for silver means a mine or mines where silver is obtained or, as Good News Translation says, “where silver is dug.” This line may also be rendered “There are mines where men dig silver.” In languages in which there is no word for silver or gold, the translator may do one of the following: (a) use a loan word from a major language; (b) use a loan word with a classifier; for example, “a valuable metal called silver”; or (c) use a substitute metal if one is known and is highly valuable; this may be the least desirable alternative.

It may be suggested that some adaptation be made in verse 1 that will prepare for the contrast of obtaining wisdom in verses 12-28. For example, Moffatt places verse 12 before verse 1 and renders verse 1a “For silver there are mines,” and then repeats verse 12 after verse 11. However, Moffatt did not use headings, which can accomplish this task even better.

And a place for gold which they refine: a place is parallel to mine in the previous line and means the same thing. Good News Translation again pluralizes a place so as to make it general, like “mines” in line a. Revised Standard Version reflects the Hebrew form, gold which they refine. The plural form of the verb has the meaning of a passive, “where gold is refined,” or of an impersonal actor, “where one refines gold.” Refine refers to the process of heating gold to a liquid and then removing the impurities that float to the surface. In languages which must employ active constructions, this line may be rendered, for example, “and places where men dig gold and refine it.” Refine may sometimes be translated as “purify, clean.” A translation should not attempt to explain in the text the process of refining, as this would place more emphasis on it than is given in the flow of the poem’s discourse. A note may be used in some cases.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

textual location of Job 28:1-28

According to the Job translation by Greenstein (2019), Job 28:1-28 should be located following Job 37:24. He explains:

“In the preceding passage (37:14-24), Elihu describes the uncanny marvels of the created world in the upper realm, in the sky. In the present passage (chapter 28), Elihu continues to describe a world that is beyond human comprehension, now focusing on the lower realm, the earth and, more particularly, the subterranean, which includes both the netherworld—the domain of the dead—and the sea that was believed to lie beneath the land. The passage is structured by two questions that ask, Where can (divine) wisdom be found? The question turns out to be a riddle, for the answer is not about where, but when (see verses 25-27).

“Modern commentators tend to regard chapter 28, which does not comport with Job’s perspectives, as an independent poem that cannot be attributed to any of the known speakers. The assumption that the poem is autonomous is highly problematic. Biblical poems do not begin with the conjunction ki, ‘for, because,’ as this passage does. There is no antecedent to the pronoun ‘he’ in verse 3. But more important, the motif of esoteric wisdom lying beyond human reach typically includes both the above and the below (see for example Job 11:7-8; Deuteronomy 30:11-13; Jeremiah 31:36; as well the Babylonian hymn to the sun god Shamash). The conclusion of this passage (28:28) echoes the conclusion of the survey of the heavenly wonders in 37:24, and it is following that passage that this one belongs.”