What Does Job 28:10 Mean in the King James?
He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The hand cuts a way through stone, and the eye discovers value that was already hidden inside it.
THE MEANING
You can cut a way through what appears solid, and your eye can find what is precious beneath its surface. The value is already there before you uncover it; the opening reveals it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse loosens the assumption that what matters must be obvious: preciousness can be present inside what first looks like solid rock.
THE ROOT
בִּקֵּעַ
biqqēaʿ
GROWS FROM
בקע
To split open, cleave, or break through.
“cutteth out” in this verse is biqqēaʿ. This is the verb for opening a passage through something solid. Elsewhere the same root describes waters splitting apart, so the verse’s rivers are not merely found among the rocks: a way is opened for them.
ALSO GROWS
wayyibbāqəʿû: The waters were split open (Exodus 14:21).
וַיִּבָּקְעוּ
The same action that opens a way through rock can divide waters, linking the cut channels here with passage through an apparent barrier.
nivqeʿu: They were broken open (Genesis 7:11).
נִבְקְעוּ
The root can describe hidden depths breaking open, echoing how this verse brings what lies within the rock into view.
יְקָר
yəqār
GROWS FROM
יקר
To be precious, costly, or held in high regard.
“precious” in this verse is yəqār. The word for what the eye finds in the rock belongs to the same root that can name honor or esteem. The verse’s value is material here, yet the root also reaches toward what is treasured in regard.
ALSO GROWS
yāqār: Precious or costly.
יָקָר
This is the familiar description of the valuable thing brought into sight in Job 28:10.
yəqār: Honor or esteem, as in Esther 8:16.
יְקָר
The branch shows that preciousness can name what is valued and honored, not only an object with a price.
עֵינוֹ
ʿênô
GROWS FROM
עין
Eye; the same Hebrew word also names a spring or source of water.
Hebrew uses עַיִן (ʿayin) for both an eye and a spring, giving sight an echo of a source that opens out. Beside the channels cut through rock, the word joins bringing water into view with bringing hidden value into view.
ALSO GROWS
ʿayin: Eye.
עַיִן
Here the eye sees what was concealed within the rock.
ʿayin: Spring or fountain.
עַיִן
This shared word-form adds a water-source resonance to a verse already describing channels among the rocks.
THE PATTERN
What lies hidden beneath the surface becomes visible through searching and disclosure.
He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.THE THREAD
No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies.Job 28:10 uses יְקָר (yəqār) for the precious thing the eye finds in stone; verse 18 uses the same root to describe wisdom’s value. The chapter turns the miner’s ability to uncover treasure into a measure of what is more precious still.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us