As for the earth, out of it comes bread; Underneath it is turned up as it were by fire.
Parallel Translations
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As for the earth, out of it comes bread; Underneath it is turned up as it were by fire.
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As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire.
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As for the earth, out of it cometh bread, and underneath it is turned up as it were by fire.
Cross-references (5)
Passages linked to Job 28:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 28:25-29 When he has leveled its surface, doesn’t he plant the dill, and scatter the cumin seed, and put in the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place? For his God instructs him in right judgment and teaches him. For the dill are not threshed with a sharp instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned over the cumin; but the dill is beaten out with a stick, and the cumin with a rod. Bread flour must be ground; so he will not always be threshing it. Although he drives the wheel of his threshing cart over it, his horses don’t grind it. This also comes out from Yahweh of Armies, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom.
- Genesis 1:11-12 God said, “Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds in it, on the earth;” and it was so. The earth yielded grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with their seeds in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.
- Genesis 1:29 God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food.
- Psalms 104:14-15 He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth: wine that makes the heart of man glad, oil to make his face to shine, and bread that strengthens man’s heart.
- Ezekiel 28:13-14 You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, emerald, chrysolite, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and beryl. Gold work of tambourines and of pipes was in you. They were prepared in the day that you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers. Then I set you up on the holy mountain of God. You have walked up and down in the middle of the stones of fire.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, come, and underneath is brimstone or coal,…
That is, come, and underneath is brimstone or coal, which easily conceiveth fire.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 28:5 [As for] the earth, out of it…
Job 28:5 [As for] the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire.
Ver. 5. As for the earth, out of it cometh bread] That is, grain. Alma Tellus, plentifully yieldeth those precious fruits of hers, as they are called, Jas 5:11, Fertilis et ferax (Vatab.). These fruits lie hidden in the seed for a season; and so doth likewise fire in the flint (whereof some understand the following words), yet are they brought at length into the light.
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And under it is turned up as it were fire] That is, materials of fire, as coals of, &c., or brimstone, which hath fire in it, and doth sometimes take fire in the mines; or gold, which is to be tried in the furnace, and various sparkling stones created from a sulphureous matter, such as is that which Pliny and Isidore call pyrites persicus, and tell us, that if it be held hard in a man’s hand it burneth. As also that which Hiarchas in Philostratus calleth pantarbe which burneth with a kind of sweet brightness, saith that author, that dazzleth the eyes of the beholder, and hath a strange attractive virtue. Thus it sometimes happens that the upper part of a ground is fruitful, and brings forth grain and grass, and underneath are precious stones and metals. But commonly where there is gold below there is the barrenest soil above. God and nature thereby teaching us, that where the love of money (that root of all evil) groweth there is no good to be found. A harvest may as well be looked for in a hedge as true grace in a gold thirsty heart.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Out of it; out of the upper parts of…
Out of it; out of the upper parts of the earth. Bread; bread-corn, or other food for man’s use.
Under it; either,
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1. Under the same earth, which either at the same time yields bread out of its upper, and fire out of its lower parts; or at several times; that earth which once was fruitful becoming, by the disposition of Divine Providence, barren and sulphureous, &c. Or,
2. Under other parts of the earth.
Is turned up, i.e. is digged out and fetched up.
As it were fire; either gold and precious stones, which glitter and sparkle like fire; or coals, and brimstone, and other materials of fire.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain As for the earth, out of it cometh bread,....…
As for the earth, out of it cometh bread,.... That is, bread corn, or corn of which bread is made particularly wheat; which falling, or being cast into the earth, rises up and brings forth fruit, and, when ground into flour, makes fine bread; and to this same original the psalmist ascribes bread, which strengthens man's heart, Psa 104:14. The West Indians formerly made their bread of roots of the earth, particularly one called "jucca" (b); so Caesar's soldiers in distress made bread of a root called "chara", steeped in milk (c):
and under it is turned up as it were fire; coal, which is fuel for fire; for, as in the earth are mines for gold and silver, iron and brass, out of which they are dug, or the ore of them, so there is coal under the earth; which, when turned up, or dug, is taken for firing; or brimstone, or sulphureous matter, which is easily inflammable; and sometimes the same earth, the surface of which is covered with corn, out of which bread cometh, underneath are coal, or sulphur, and such like combustible matter: some think precious stones are meant, which glitter and sparkle like fire; see Eze 28:14.
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(b) P. Martyr, Decad 1. l. 1. (c) Caesar. Comment. Bell. Civil. l. 3. c. 48.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Fire - Coals, and brimstone, and other materials of…
Fire - Coals, and brimstone, and other materials of fire. Unless this refer, as some suppose, to a central fire.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 5. The earth, out of it cometh bread]…
Verse 5. The earth, out of it cometh bread] Or the earth, ממנה mimmennah, from itself, by its own vegetative power, it sends out bread, or the corn of which bread is made.
And under it is turned up as it were fire.] It seems as if this referred to some combustible fossil, similar to our stone coal, which was dug up out of the earth in some places of Arabia. The Chaldee gives a translation, conformable to a very ancient opinion, which supposed the centre of the earth to be a vast fire, and the place called hell. "The earth from which food proceeds, and under which is gehenna, whose cold snow is converted into the likeness of fire; and the garden of Eden, which is the place whose stones are sapphires," c. The Vulgate has, "The land from which bread has been produced has been destroyed by fire." If this be the meaning of the original, there is probably an allusion to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the seventh and eighth verses Job 28:7-8 may be supposed to refer to that catastrophe, there being no place left tangible or visible where those cities once stood: neither fowl nor beast could discern a path there, the whole land being covered with the lake Asphaltites.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Job 28:5-6. As for the earth, out of it…
Job 28:5-6. As for the earth, out of it cometh bread — Out of the surface of the earth man gets herbs and corn, and other kinds of food for his sustenance: and under it is turned up, as it were, fire — Lime, to manure and enrich the ground, or coals and brimstone, and other materials of fire: unless, as some suppose, this rather refers to a central fire in the bowels of the earth. The stones of it are the place of sapphires — Of precious stones; the sapphire, as one of the most eminent, being put for all the rest. In some parts of the earth the sapphires are mixed with stones, and cut out of them and polished. And it hath — The earth containeth; dust of gold — Distinct from that gold which is found in the mass; both sorts of gold being found in the earth.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain As for the earth, out of it cometh bread…
As for the earth, out of it cometh bread - That is, it produces food, or the materials for bread. The idea of Job seems to be, that it was proof of great wisdom and skill on the part of man that he had carried the arts of agriculture so far. The earth in producing grain, and the arts of husbandry, were illustrative of wisdom and skill, but they did not impart the wisdom about the government of God which was desired. That was reserved to be imparted more directly by God himself, Job 28:23 ff.
And under it is turned up as it were fire - That is, on being turned up it discloses precious stones that seem to glow like coals of fire. This is the obvious sense of this passage, though a different interpretation has been given by most expositors. Job is speaking of mining. He describes the search for, gold, and silver, and precious stones. He says that one of the wonders of wisdom in the earth is, that it produces nutritious grain; another, that when the same earth is turned up it seems to rest on a bed of fire. The dark ground is made to glow by the quantity of jewels that are disclosed, and its deep recesses seem to be on fire. There is no reference here, therefore, as it seems to me. to any volcanic agency, or to any belief that the earth rests on a sea of fire. The idea has been expressed in Sergeant’s “Mine:”
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“Wheresoe’er our footsteps turn,
Rubies blush and diamonds burn.”
Luther has given to the passage a different sense. Man bringet auch Feuer unten aus der Eerie, da oben Speise auf wachst - “They bring fire from the earth beneath, where food grows up above.” Coverdale, “He bringeth food out of the earth; that which is under he consumeth with fire.” Herder, “And underneath it is changed as by fire.” Dr. Good, “Below it (the earth) windeth a fiery region.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain In its, &c. Hebrew and Septuagint, "and under it…
In its, &c. Hebrew and Septuagint, "and under it is turned up as it were fire," which lies in it. (Haydock) --- Fire, like Sodom; to which event Job alludes, chap. xxii. 20. (Calmet) --- The furnaces to melt various metals have taken the place of corn, and occupy the land. (Menochius) --- Men have extracted bitumen, &c., even from the lake of Sodom. (Pliny, [Natural History?] vii. 15.) --- Nothing escapes them. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Its fertile surface yields food; and yet "beneath it…
Its fertile surface yields food; and yet "beneath it is turned up as it were with fire." So PLINY [Natural History, 33] observes on the ingratitude of man who repays the debt he owes the earth for food, by digging out its bowels. "Fire" was used in mining [UMBREIT]. English Version is simpler, which means precious stones which glow like fire; and so Job 28:6 follows naturally (Eze 28:14).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 5. Turned up as it were fire — Same…
5. Turned up as it were fire — Same also in the Septuagint. Pliny has a like thought. Ungrateful man repays the debt he owes the earth for bread (Psa_104:14) by digging out her bowels. The miner probably used fire in his work of excavation, and thus produced effects like those of subterranean fires. In the days of Pliny they broke the rocks with fire and vinegar. Herodotus, (vi, 47,) in his description of “the workings in Thasos” by the Phoenicians, whose home it will be remembered was only about one hundred and eighty miles from Idumaea, states, “that a huge mountain has been turned upside down in the search for ores.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 5. The same idea of the distance from the…
5. The same idea of the distance from the life of men and the unnaturalness of the miner’s work is pursued in the fine contrast between the peaceful, cultivated and fruitful face of the earth above and the destructive operations carried on in her bowels, which leave a confusion and devastation like that caused by fire. The second clause must be rendered,
And underneath it is overturned as if by fire.
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The reference is hardly to actual blasting; rather to the overthrow and confused ruin that follows the miner’s operations.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (5) As for the earth . . .—While the…
(5) As for the earth . . .—While the ploughman and the reaper till and gather the fruits of the earth on its surface, the miner far below maintains perpetual fires, as also does the volcanic mountain, with its fields and vineyards luxuriant and fertile on its sides.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain As for the earth, out of it cometh bread.…
As for the earth, out of it cometh bread. Man"s cleverness is such that he turns the earth to various uses. By tillage of its surface he causes it to produce the staff of life, bread: and by his mining operations the under part of it is turned up as fire, or rather, as by fire. Fire was used in some of the processes whereby masses of material were detached and forced to yield their treasures (see Pliny, "Hist. Nat.," 33:4.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 the earth, out of which comes bread
the earth, out of which comes bread
Here "bread" represents food in general. Food coming out of the ground is a metaphor for food growing out of the ground. AT: "the earth, where food grows" (See: Synecdoche and Metaphor)
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it is turned up below as if by fire
Possible meanings are that 1) people made fires under the ground to break apart the rock. AT: "it is broken up below by the fires that the miners make" or 2) "turned" is a metaphor for changed. AT: "it is broken up below so much that it appears that it was destroyed by fire"
it is turned ... Its stones ... its dust
The word "it" refers to the earth.
sapphires
a rare and valuable blue gemstone
translationWords
earth
bread
fire
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 28:5 Miners melted rock by burning a fire in…
28:5 Miners melted rock by burning a fire in a mine for days or even weeks to melt out the ore. Some alternated fire with cold water to split the rocks.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.