Job 28:9

The miner strikes the flint; he overturns mountains at their base.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Job addresses his companions in a discourse on wisdom, using mining imagery to describe human extraction efforts.

The words — הָפַ֖ךְ (ha.Fakh) translates literally as "he overturns," and מִ/שֹּׁ֣רֶשׁ (mi./Sho.resh) means "from the root."

The thread — The motif of divine power uprooting or overturning natural foundations appears in Nahum 1:4, where God dries rivers and withers mountain vegetation.

Why it lands — The text states that a miner stretches his hand to overturn mountains at their base to reach hidden ore. This demands acknowledgment that human extraction, however powerful, remains separate from the source of true wisdom.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

בַּֽ֭חַלָּמִישׁBa./cha.la.mishon the/ flint שָׁלַ֣חsha.Lachhe stretches out יָד֑וֹya.D/ohand/ his הָפַ֖ךְha.Fakhhe overturns מִשֹּׁ֣רֶשׁmi./Sho.reshfrom/ [the] root הָרִֽים׃ha.Rimmountains

King James Version

He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots.

Cross-references

Nahum 1:4 He rebukes the sea and dries it up; He makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither, and the flower of Lebanon wilts.