God’s Word Translation
Job 28:5
5“Above the ground food grows, but beneath it the food decays as if ⌞it were burned⌟ by fire.
Job 28:5 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire.
- New International Version (NIV)The earth, from which food comes, is transformed below as by fire;
- English Standard Version (ESV)As for the earth, out of it comes bread, but underneath it is turned up as by fire.
- New King James Version (NKJV)As for the earth, from it comes bread, But underneath it is turned up as by fire;
Context of Job 28:5
3⌞Humans⌟ bring an end to darkness ⌞there⌟ and search to the limit of the gloomy, pitch-black rock. 4They open up a mineshaft far from civilization, where no one has set foot. ⌞In this shaft⌟ men dangle and swing back and forth. “Above the ground food grows, but beneath it the food decays as if ⌞it were burned⌟ by fire. 6That place’s stones are sapphire. Its dust contains gold. 7No bird of prey knows the way to it. No hawk’s eye has ever seen it.
Read all of Job 28Job 28:5 word by word
אֶ֗רֶץ מִמֶּ֥נָּה יֵֽצֵא־לָ֑חֶם וְ֝תַחְתֶּ֗יהָ נֶהְפַּ֥ךְ כְּמוֹ־אֵֽשׁ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 28:5
- Genesis 1:11Then God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation: plants bearing seeds, each according to its own type, and fruit trees bearing fruit with seeds, each according to its own type.” And so it was.
- Psalms 104:14You make grass grow for cattle and make vegetables for humans to use in order to get food from the ground.
- Isaiah 28:25When he has smoothed its surface, doesn’t he scatter black cumin seed and plant cumin? Doesn’t he plant wild wheat in rows? Doesn’t he put barley in its own area and winter wheat at its borders?
- Ezekiel 28:13You were in Eden, God’s garden. You were covered with every kind of precious stone: red quartz, topaz, crystal, beryl, onyx, gray quartz, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald. Your settings and your sockets were made of gold when you were created.
Commentaries on Job 28:5
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 5The 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 center of the…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 5As 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…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 5People who mined would melt rock by burning a fire in a mine for days or weeks to extract the solid matter (ore). Some used fire and then cold water to crack the rocks.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 55. 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).Read the comment
Topics related to Job 28:5
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 28
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
Commentaries