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Selected Verse: Job 28:15 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Job 28:15 |
King James |
It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
Not the usual word for "gold"; from a Hebrew root, "to shut up" with care; that is, purest gold (Kg1 6:20, Margin).
weighed--The precious metals were weighed out before coining was known (Gen 23:16). |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
It cannot be gotten for gold - Margin, "fine gold shall not be given for it." The word which is here rendered "gold." and in the margin "fine gold" (סגור segôr), is not the common word used to denote this metal. It is derived from סגר sâgar, to "shut," to "close," and means properly that which is "shut up" or "enclosed;" and hence, Gesenius supposes it means pure gold, or the most precious gold, as that which is shut up or enclosed with care. Dr. Good renders it "solid gold," supposing it means that which is condensed, or beaten. The phrase occurs in nearly the same form סגור זהב zâhâb sâgûr, "gold shut up," Margin,) in Kg1 6:20-21; Kg1 7:49-50; Kg1 10:21; Ch2 4:21-22; Ch2 9:20, and undoubtedly denotes there the most precious kind of gold. Its relation to the sense of the verb "to shut up" is not certain. Prof. Lee supposes that the idea is derived from the use of the word, and of similar words in Arabic, where the idea of heating, fusing, giving another color, changing the shape, and thence of fixing, retaining, etc., is found; and that the idea here is that of fused or purified gold. Michaelis supposes that it refers to "native" gold that is pure and unadulterated, or the form of gold called "dendroides," from its shooting out in the form of a tree - "baumartig gewachsenes Gold" (from the Arabic, "a tree"). It is not known, however, that the Hebrew word סגר was always used to denote a tree. There can be no doubt that the word denotes "gold" of a pure kind, and it may have been given to it because gold of that kind was carefully "shut up" in places of safe keeping; but it would seem more probable to me that it was given to it for some reason now unknown. Of many of the names now given by us to objects which are significant, and which are easily understood by us, it would be impossible to trace the reason or propriety, after the lapse of four thousand years.
Neither shall silver be weighed - That is, it would be impossible to weigh out so much silver as to equal its value. Before the art of coining was known, it was common to weigh the precious metals that were used as a medium of trade; compare Gen 23:16. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| It cannot be gotten for gold - Genuine religion and true happiness are not to be acquired by earthly property. Solomon made gold and silver as plentiful as the stones in Jerusalem, and had all the delights of the sons of men, and yet he was not happy; yea, he had wisdom, was the wisest of men, but he had not the wisdom of which Job speaks here, and therefore, to him, all was vanity and vexation of spirit. If Solomon, as some suppose, was the author of this book, the sentiments expressed here are such as we might expect from this deeply experienced and wise man. |
16 And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.
20 And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar.
16 And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.
20 And all the drinking vessels of king Solomon were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold: none were of silver; it was not any thing accounted of in the days of Solomon.
21 And the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs, made he of gold, and that perfect gold;
22 And the snuffers, and the basons, and the spoons, and the censers, of pure gold: and the entry of the house, the inner doors thereof for the most holy place, and the doors of the house of the temple, were of gold.
21 And all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver: it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon.
49 And the candlesticks of pure gold, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle, with the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs of gold,
50 And the bowls, and the snuffers, and the basons, and the spoons, and the censers of pure gold; and the hinges of gold, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, to wit, of the temple.
20 And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar.
21 So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold.