to set in a row · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
valued
תְסֻלֶּֽהte.su.Leh
H5541
to hang up · verb, pual imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
pure
טָ֝ה֗וֹרta.Hor
H2889
pure (in a physical · adjective, masculine singular absolute
gold
בְּכֶ֥תֶםbe.Khe.tem
H3800
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular 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
Exodus 28:17 And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones: the first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this shal…
Exodus 39:10 And they set in it four rows of stones: the first row was a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this was the first row.
Proverbs 8:19 My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver.
Ezekiel 28:13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, a…
Revelation 21:20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the elev…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 28:12-19
Job, having spoken of the wealth of the world, which men put such a value upon and take so much pains for, here comes to speak of another more valuable jewel, and that is, wisdom and understanding, the knowing and enjoying of God and ourselves. Those that found out all those ways and means to enrich themselves thought themselves very wise; but Job will not own theirs to be wisdom. He supposes them to gain their point, and to bring to light what they sought for (Job 28:11), and yet asks, "Where is wisdom? for it is not here." This their way is their folly. We must therefore seek it somewhere else, and it will be found nowhere but in the principles and practices of religion. There is more true…
Ethiopia--Cush in the Hebrew. Either Ethiopia, or the south of Arabia, near the Tigris.
John Gill on Job 28:19
The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it,.... Not Ethiopia Abyssinia, or that which lies beyond Egypt in Africa; for, as Ludolphus (x) says, there are no gems found there, or very rarely; but Cush, as the word is, or Arabia Chusaea, the same with the country of Midian, and the parts adjacent; see Habakkuk 3:7; hence Zipporah, the wife of Moses, who was of that country, is called an Ethiopian woman, Numbers 12:1; and this was near Job's country, who knew the produce of it; and here the topaz is found, as many writers observe. Diodorus Siculus says (y), in Ophiodes, an island in the Arabian gulf, belonging to the Troglodytes, the topaz is found, which is a very clear stone, pleasant to the sig…
17 Gold and glass are not equal to it,
Nor is it exchanged for jewels of gold.
18 Pearls and crystal are not to be mentioned,
And the acquisition of wisdom is beyond corals.
19 The topaz of Ethiopia is not equal to it,
It is not outweighed by pure fine gold.
20 Whence, then, cometh wisdom,
And which is the place of understanding?
Among the separate חפצים, Pro 3:15, which are here detailed, apart from זהב, glass has the transparent name זכוּכית, or, as it is pointed in Codd., in old editions, and by Kimchi, זכוכית, with Cholem (in the dialects with ג instead of )כ. Symm. indeed translates crystal, and in fact the ancient languages have common names for glass and crystal; but the crystal is he…
The Church Fathers
The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it. Neither shall the purest dyes be brought into comparison. What do we take 'Ethiopia' for, save the present world, which same by darkness of hue denotes a sinning people in the foulness of its merits. But sometimes by the name of Ethiopia the Gentile world in a special manner is used to be denoted, as being before black by the sins of unbelief. Which same on the Lord's coming, the Prophet Habakkuk beheld affrighted with fear, and says, The tents of the Ethiopians tremble with dread, the tents of the land of Madian. David also, the Prophet, seeing that the Lord should come for the redeeming of Judaea, but that first the Gentile world should believe, and afterwards Judaea should follow, (as it is written, Until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel shall be saved,) says, Ethiopia, her hand shall be first to God; i.e. 'before that Judaea believes, the Gentile world being black with sins offers itself to Almighty God to be saved.' Now the topaz is a precious stone, and because in the Greek tongue to pan is the word for 'every thing,' on this account, that it shines bright with every colour, it is called 'topazium,' as if 'topantium.' But when the Gentile world being turned to God believed, numbers from out thereof were so enriched with the gift of His Spirit, that as with many colours, so with many virtues they shone bright. But lest any man be lifted up by the virtues he has received, it is now said by the holy man, The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it. As though he said in plain words; 'No one of the Saints, with however many virtues he may be filled, yet as being gathered out of this blackness of the world can equal Him, concerning Whom it is written, That holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. For we, though we are made holy, yet are not born holy, because by the mere constitution of a corruptible nature we are tied and bound, that we should say with the Prophet, Behold, I was shapen in wickedness, and in sin hath my mother conceived me. But He only is truly born holy, Who in order that He might get the better of that same constitution of a corruptible nature, was not conceived by the combining of carnal conjunction. To this Wisdom as it were a kind of 'topaz from Ethiopia wished to equal itself,' when a certain heresiarch said, 'I do not envy Christ being made…
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
Brass — Which is an alloy of copper and zinc, was not known till the thirteenth century. What is designated by this word in Scripture is properly copper (Deut. 8:9). It was used for fetters (Judg. 16:21; 2…
Ethiopia — Country of burnt faces; the Greek word by which the Hebrew Cush is rendered (Gen. 2:13; 2 Kings 19:9; Esther 1:1; Job 28:19; Ps. 68:31; 87:4), a country which lay to the south of Egypt, beginning at…
Gold — (1.) Heb. zahab, so called from its yellow colour (Ex. 25:11; 1 Chr. 28:18; 2 Chr. 3:5). (2.) Heb. segor, from its compactness, or as being enclosed or treasured up; thus precious or “fine gold” (1…
Topaz — Heb. pitdah (Ezek. 28:13; Rev. 21:20), a golden yellow or “green” stone brought from Cush or Ethiopia (Job 28:19). It was the second stone in the first row in the breastplate of the high priest, and…
Wise, wisdom — A moral rather than an intellectual quality. To be “foolish” is to be godless (Ps. 14:1; comp. Judg. 19:23; 2 Sam. 13:13). True wisdom is a gift from God to those who ask it (Job 28:12-28; Prov.…
Gold · Refined — Refined
Precious Stones · Mentioned in scripture: Topaz — Mentioned in scripture: Topaz
Readings, Select · NATURE’ S TESTIMONY — NATURE’ S TESTIMONY
Wisdom · .UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — .UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
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).
The metals, gemstones, and glass listed here were precious in the ancient world, but the speaker says that wisdom is much more precious than wealth.
Rashi on Job 28:19
The topaz of Kush It is a precious stone, as in (Exod. 28:17), “ruby, topaz (פטדה).” with...jewelry Heb. בכתם. That is a collection of jewelry for women’s adornments, and this collection is called כֶּתֶם in Hebrew, and “al halls” in Arabic. That is (Prov. 25:12) “Like a golden earring and jewelry of the finest gold (וחלי כתם),” and similarly (Hosea 2:15), “and adorned herself with her earrings and her jewelry (וחליתה).” Others interpret כֶּתֶם like כֶּתֶר, a crown, but it is incorrect because we do not find a verb with this root, as we find with כֶּתֶר. מַכְתִּיר, to crown or surround, כותרות capitals.
