and consign your gold to the dust and the gold of Ophir to the stones of the ravines,
Parallel translations
- WEB Lay your treasure in the dust, the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.
- KJV Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.
- NKJV Then you will lay your gold in the dust, And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.
- NASB And put your gold in the dust, And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks,
- NLT If you give up your lust for money and throw your precious gold into the river,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Eliphaz tells Job to treat gold as worthless as dust and stones in a streambed. He urges Job to value God above all earthly riches.
Overview
Eliphaz counsels a right ordering of treasure, holding wealth loosely as dust. This anticipates Christ's teaching to lay up treasure in heaven rather than on earth (Matt 6:19-21). The advice itself is wise and godly. Its flaw lies only in the implication that Job's troubles stem from a covetous heart that needs reforming.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Isa 13:12I will make man scarcer than pure gold, and mankind rarer than the gold of Ophir.
- 1 Kgs 9:28They sailed to Ophir and imported gold from there—420 talents—and delivered it to Solomon.
- Gen 10:29Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.
- 1 Kgs 22:48Jehoshaphat built ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they never set sail, because they were wrecked at Ezion-geber.
- 2 Chr 9:10(The servants of Hiram and of Solomon who brought gold from Ophir also brought algum wood and precious stones.
- Job 31:25if I have rejoiced in my great wealth because my hand had gained so much,
- 2 Chr 9:27The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as abundant as sycamore in the foothills.
- 2 Chr 1:5But the bronze altar made by Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, was in Gibeon before the tabernacle of the LORD. So Solomon and the assembly inquired of Him there.
- Ps 45:9The daughters of kings are among your honored women; the queen stands at your right hand, adorned with the gold of Ophir.
- 1 Kgs 10:21All King Solomon’s drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, because it was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 22:24 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.