28:6 a place whose stones are sapphires 1
and which contains dust of gold; 2
28:16 It cannot be measured out for purchase 3 with the gold of Ophir,
with precious onyx 4 or sapphires.
1 tn It is probably best to take “place” in construct to the rest of the colon, with an understood relative clause: “a place, the rocks of which are sapphires.”
sn The modern stone known as sapphire is thought not to have been used until Roman times, and so some other stone is probably meant here, perhaps lapis lazuli.
2 sn H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 181) suggests that if it is lapis lazuli, then the dust of gold would refer to the particles of iron pyrite found in lapis lazuli which glitter like gold.
3 tn The word actually means “weighed,” that is, lifted up on the scale and weighed, in order to purchase.
4 tn The exact identification of these stones is uncertain. Many recent English translations, however, have “onyx” and “sapphires.”