complete verse (Job 28:16)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 28:16:

  • Kupsabiny: “It is not enough even with very expensive gold
    or with some beautiful stones.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “it cannot be purchased with the gold of Ophir.
    It is not even possible to weigh it with zircon jewels or sapphire.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The price of this can- not -be-equaled with pure gold or with an expensive onix/onyz and sapiro/sapphires stones.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “I was like a father to poor people,
    and in courts I defended those who were strangers.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Job 28:16

It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir: the verb translated valued occurs only here and in verse 19, and in another form in Lamentations 4.2 (“worth their weight”). It has to do with weighing to determine value and is adequately translated in English by Revised Standard Version or by saying “You cannot measure its worth….” In the expression gold of Ophir, the word for gold is again different, but coupled with Ophir it clearly refers to a fine quality of gold. Ophir was used in 22.24 as the name of a place known for its gold. See there for comments. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy says “One cannot pay for it with the most precious gold.”

In precious onyx or sapphire: the word translated onyx is paired with “fine gold” in Genesis 2.12. The identification of the precious stones named in this verse is not possible. The one translated onyx has been rendered by many other names of gems, such as sardonyx, beryl, carnelian, and malachite. It was found on the breast plate of the high priest’s robe (Exo 28.20), and on the ephod (Exo 25.7). Sapphire is the same gem as in verse 6. Good News Translation avoids reference to any specific gems by saying “The finest gold and jewels cannot equal its value.” Since the exact nature of these gems is uncertain, a translation using generic terms such as Good News Translation is quite adequate.

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.”