Job 28:6

a place whose stones are sapphires ¹  and which contains dust of gold; ² 

sapphires come from its rocks, and its dust contains nuggets of gold.

"Its rocks are the source of sapphires, And its dust contains gold.

"People know how to find sapphires and gold dust––

Firing sapphires from stones and chiseling gold from rocks.

Its stones are the place of sapphires, and it has dust of gold.

Its stones are the place of sapphires, and its dust contains gold.

Its stones are the source of sapphires, And it contains gold dust.

a place whose stones are sapphires ¹  and which contains dust of gold; ² 

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.