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.”
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.”