The allusion to “the golden wedge of Ophir” is now obscure, and may not be the best translation. Ophir was the location of Solomon’s mines, and its precise location is unknown, although Sperry suggests that it was in southern Arabia. Blenkinsopp translates this verse: “I will make mortals more scarce than pure gold, human beings than the gold of Ophir.” Gileadi similarly renders it: “I will make mankind scarcer than fine gold, men more rare than gold of Ophir.”