Job 28

Chap. XXVIII. Ver. 1. A vein for silver.—* A mine,” so Good, &c. And a place for gold, (where) they fine it— which (men) refine,” says the same Scot critic. Scott (the poet) thinks the refining should be referred to both._ Ver. 2. Brass is molten out of the stone—i. e. the ore. The modern brass the foot,’—i. e. the dried wp.—Rather, human society. F Ver. 5. The earth, &c.—That is, the surface of it, ‘‘ produceth bread;?’—— But under it is turned up as it were fire.—That is, deep below this surface are found subterraneous fires. Ver. 7. Vulture’s eye.—l Ayah, rendered the Kite in (Leviticus 11:14). and vulture in (Deuteronomy 14:13). is supposed by Bochart to be the bird called by the Arabians Juju, from its note; and which the ancients named salon, i.

e. the merlin: a bird celebrated for its sharp-sightedness.|— Bagster. Ver. 9. He putteth forth (or “ thrusteth’’) his hand upon (or “ into”) the (flinty) rock. He overturneth (‘‘upturneth”) the mountains.—(So Good.) This relates to the work of mining, as doth also the following. y, descend not by their feet, but in baskets —They are “They sink down; they wander far from men,” i. e. from

Notes on the verses

Ver. 3. He setteth an end, &c.—This verse is very obscure and difficult. The passage evidently relates to mining, in which man is the agent; the best modern translators, therefore, (following the suggestion of Cocceius,) supply the word man at the beginning of this verse:— Man putteth an end to darkness;”’ or, as we should render it, “‘ pusheth to the extreme end (or extremity) of darkness.” Ver. 4. The flood breaketh out.—This is often literally the case, (see ver. 11.) but it seems not to be the import of this clause. Here are no * waters” in the text, and the word seems improperly supplied. Cocceius and Schultens render it: ‘ He breaketh up the valley near the bottom of the mountains;” that is, in order to penetrate the mine.——‘‘ They are forgotten af Ver.

10. He cutteth out rivers.—(Or *‘ channels.”)—Dr. Good.. Ver. 11. He bindeth the floods from overflowing—i. e. restrains the water from “oozing” through the rocks. But, sometimes, instead of excluding a direct powerful streams through a mine, to clear away the rubbish.— Ver. 16. It cannot be valued.—The original word strictly signifies, to be strewed on the ground, as the ancient merchants laid their commodities to be bartered for.—See ch. xx. 18. xxii. 24. \ ‘ c Ver. 17. Crystal. Hebrew zechoochith, in Syriac zagoogeetho, and in Arabic zagag, from zachach, (Heb.) to be pure, transparent, probably denotes glass; so the LXX. and Vulgate. ]—Bagster. Ver. 18. Coral.—{Probably so called from raam, to be elevated, from its always growing from the tops of rocky caverns, with its head downmost.

Coral is a hard, erectaceous, marine production, resembling in figure the stem of a