“From the earth comes food, And underneath, it is turned over like fire.
Parallel translations
- WEB As for the earth, out of it comes bread; Underneath it is turned up as it were by fire.
- KJV As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire.
- BSB Food may come from the earth, but from below it is transformed as by fire.
- NKJV As for the earth, from it comes bread, But underneath it is turned up as by fire;
- NLT Food is grown on the earth above, but down below, the earth is melted as by fire.
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
The earth yields food on its surface, while beneath it is torn up as if by fire in the search for ore.
Overview
Job contrasts the earth's surface, which produces bread, with its depths, which men violently overturn to extract minerals. The 'fire' may refer to smelting or the upheaval of mining. The verse marvels at how thoroughly humanity exploits the earth, yet all this mastery over creation still leaves wisdom undiscovered apart from the Creator.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Isa 28:25–29When he has leveled its surface, doesn’t he plant the dill, and scatter the cumin seed, and put in the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place?
- Ezek 28:13–14You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, emerald, chrysolite, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and beryl. Gold work of tambourines and of pipes was in you. In the day that you were created they were prepared.
- Gen 1:29God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food.
- Gen 1:11–12God said, “Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds in it, on the earth”; and it was so.
- Ps 104:14–15He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth:
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 28:5 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.