28:5 The earth, from which food comes,
is overturned below as though by fire; 1
28:9 On the flinty rock man has set to work 2 with his hand;
he has overturned mountains at their bases. 3
1 sn The verse has been properly understood, on the whole, as comparing the earth above and all its produce with the upheaval down below.
2 tn The Hebrew verb is simply “to stretch out; to send” (שָׁלח, shalakh). With יָדוֹ (yado, “his hand”) the idea is that of laying one’s hand on the rock, i.e., getting to work on the hardest of rocks.
3 tn The Hebrew מִשֹּׁרֶשׁ (mishoresh) means “from/at [their] root [or base].” In mining, people have gone below ground, under the mountains, and overturned rock and dirt. It is also interesting that here in a small way humans do what God does – overturn mountains (cf. 9:5).