Albert Barnes Commentary Job 28:3

"[Man] setteth an end to darkness, And searcheth out, to the furthest bound, The stones of obscurity and of thick darkness." — Job 28:3 (ASV)

He setteth an end to darkness - That is, man does. The reference here is undoubtedly to mining operations, and the idea is that man delves into the darkest regions; he goes even to the outer limits of darkness; he penetrates everywhere. Probably the allusion is derived from the custom of carrying torches into mines.

And searcheth out all perfection - makes a complete search, examines everything, and carries the matter to the utmost. The idea is not that he searches out all perfection—as our translation seems to convey; but that he makes a complete and thorough search—and yet, after all, he does not arrive at true and highest wisdom.

The stones of darkness - Herder says this refers to the last stone in the mining investigations in the time of Job: the corner or boundary stone, as it were, of the kingdom of darkness and night. Professor Lee supposes that there is an allusion here to the fact that stones were used as “weights,” and that the idea is that man had ascertained the “exact weight” of the gross darkness; that is, had taken an accurate measurement of it, or had wholly investigated it. But this solution seems far-fetched. Schultens supposes the center of the earth is denoted by this expression.

But it seems to me that the words “stone” and “darkness” are to be separated, and that the one is not used to qualify the other. The sense is that man searches out everything; he perfectly and accurately penetrates everywhere and examines all objects: “the stone” (אבן 'eben), that is, the rocks, the mines; “the darkness” (אפל 'ôphel), that is, the darkness of the cavern, the interior of the earth; “and the shadow of death” (צלמות tsalmâveth), that is, the most dark and impenetrable regions of the earth. So it is rendered by Coverdale: The stones, the dark, and the horrible shadow.