Ayub 6:12

6:12 Is my strength like that of stones? ¹ 

or is my flesh made of bronze?

Ayub 28:9

28:9 On the flinty rock man has set to work ²  with his hand;

he has overturned mountains at their bases. ³ 

Ayub 38:30

38:30 when the waters become hard ⁴  like stone,

when the surface of the deep is frozen solid?

[6:12]  ¹ sn The questions imply negative answers. Job is saying that it would take great strength to hold up under these afflictions, but he is only flesh and bone. The sufferings have almost completely overwhelmed him. To endure all of this to the end he would need a strength he does not have.

[28:9]  ² tn The Hebrew verb is simply “to stretch out; to send” (שָׁלח, shalakh). With יָדוֹ (yado, “his hand”) the idea is that of laying one’s hand on the rock, i.e., getting to work on the hardest of rocks.

[28:9]  ³ tn The Hebrew מִשֹּׁרֶשׁ (mishoresh) means “from/at [their] root [or base].” In mining, people have gone below ground, under the mountains, and overturned rock and dirt. It is also interesting that here in a small way humans do what God does – overturn mountains (cf. 9:5).

[38:30]  ⁴ tn Several suggest that the verb is not from חָבָא (khava’, “to hide”) but from a homonym, “to congeal.” This may be too difficult to support, however.