Job 22:24

Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
up	וְשִׁית ve.shit-	H7896	to place (in a very wide application) · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
gold	בָּ֑צֶר Ba.tzer	H1220	strictly a clipping · noun, common masculine singular absolute
as	עַל 'al-	H5921	above · preposition
dust	עָפָ֥ר 'a.Far	H6083	dust (as powdered or gray) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Ophir	אוֹפִֽיר 'o.Fir	H211	Ophir · proper noun, a place name
stones	וּבְצ֖וּר u.ve.Tzur	H6697	properly · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
brooks	נְחָלִ֣ים ne.cha.Lim	H5158	a stream · noun, common masculine plural absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

1 Kings 9:28 And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.
Isaiah 13:12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
Genesis 10:29 And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan.
1 Kings 10:21 And all king Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were…
1 Kings 22:48 Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they went not; for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber.
2 Chronicles 1:5 Moreover the brasen altar, that Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, he put before the tabernacle of the LORD: and Solomon and…
2 Chronicles 9:10 And the servants also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, which brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones.
2 Chronicles 9:27 And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar trees made he as the sycomore trees that are in the low plains in abundance.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 22:21–end

Methinks I can almost forgive Eliphaz his hard censures of Job, which we had in the beginning of the chapter, though they were very unjust and unkind, for this good counsel and encouragement which he gives him in these verses with which he closes his discourse, and than which nothing could be better said, nor more to the purpose. Though he thought him a bad man, yet he saw reason to have hopes concerning him, that, for all this, he would be both pious and prosperous. But it is strange that out of the same mouth, and almost in the same breath, both sweet waters and bitter should proceed. Good men, though they may perhaps be put into a heat, yet sometimes will talk themselves into a better tem…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 22:24

Rather, containing the protasis from the last clause of Job 22:23, "If thou regard the glittering metal as dust"; literally, "lay it on on the dust"; to regard it of as little value as the dust on which it lies. The apodosis is at Job 22:25, Then shall the Almighty be, &c. God will take the place of the wealth, in which thou didst formerly trust. gold--rather, "precious" or "glittering metal," parallel to "(gold) of Ophir," in the second clause [UMBREIT and MAURER]. Ophir--derived from a Hebrew word "dust," namely, gold dust. HEEREN thinks it a general name for the rich countries of the South, on the African, Indian, and especially the Arabian coast (where was the port Aphar. El Ophir, t…

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John Gill on Job 22:24

Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust,.... Have such plenty of it, as not to be counted: and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks; which was reckoned the best, probably in Arabia; not in the East and West Indies, which were not known to Job; though some take this to be an exhortation to despise riches, and as a dissuasion from covetousness, rendering the words, "put gold upon the dust", or earth (i), and trample upon it, as a thing not esteemed by thee, as Sephorno interprets it; make no more account of it than of the dust of the earth; let it be like dirt unto thee, "and among the stones of the brooks", Ophir (k); that is, the gold of Ophir, reckon no more of it, though the choicest…

The Church Fathers

"You shall lay it on the stone, at the top of the wall. This is the opposite of what he said: "A river flowing at the foot of their walls. "
— Augustine of Hippo, ANNOTATIONS ON THE BOOK OF JOB (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

He shall give the flint for earth, and for the flint golden torrents. ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION What is denoted by 'earth' but weakness in conduct, what by the hardness of the flint but strength, what do we understand by 'the golden torrents,' but the instruction of interior brightness? Now to those that turn themselves to Him Almighty God 'gives for earth the flint,' in that for weak conduct He bestows the strength of vigorous practice. He also gives 'for the flint golden torrents,' in that for vigorous practice He redoubles the instruction of bright preaching, that every converted sinner may from weak be enabled to prove strong, and in his strength rise up even to the uttering forth words of the inner brightness, so that in that person, both weakness of conduct, in which like earth he is crumbled, by strength of good living may be firmly settled, and whereas perception is derived from the life, from that same firmness torrents of gold may run out, seeing that in the mouth of those that live well brightness of teaching runs over.
— Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVI

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Ophir — (1.) One of the sons of Joktan (Gen. 10:29). (2.) Some region famous for its gold (1 Kings 9:28; 10:11; 22:48; Job 22:24; 28:16; Isa. 13:12). In the LXX. this word is rendered “Sophir,” and “Sofir”…
Brooks · Often ran over pebbles — Often ran over pebbles
Ophir · .Gold of, proverbial for its fineness — .Gold of, proverbial for its fineness
Penitent · PROMISES TO — PROMISES TO
Prosperity · Promised to the righteous — Promised to the righteous

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Job 22:24

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 22:21–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 22:24

John Gill on Job 22:24

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Job 22:24

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 22:21–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 22:24

John Gill on Job 22:24

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Job 22:21-25

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Job 22:24

Rashi on Job 22:24