Job 26:5-14

5 The departed spirits tremble beneath the waters and [all] that inhabit them.[a]
6 Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon[b] has no covering.
7 He stretches the northern [skies] over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing.
8 He enfolds the waters in His clouds, yet the clouds do not burst beneath their weight.[c]
9 He obscures the view of [His] throne, spreading His cloud over it.
10 He laid out the horizon on the surface of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.[d]
11 The pillars [that hold up] the sky tremble, astounded at His rebuke.[e]
12 By His power He stirred the sea,[f] and by His understanding He crushed Rahab.[g]
13 By His breath the heavens gained their beauty;[h] His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.[i]
14 These are but the fringes of His ways; how faint is the word we hear of Him! Who can understand His mighty thunder?

Job 26:5-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 26

In this chapter Job, in a very sarcastic manner, rallies Bildad on the weakness and impertinence of his reply, and sets it in a very ridiculous light; showing it to be quite foolish and stupid, and not at all to the purpose, and besides was none of his own, but what he had borrowed from another, Job 26:1-4; and if it was of any avail in the controversy to speak of the greatness and majesty of God, of his perfections and attributes, of his ways and works, he could say greater and more glorious things of God than he had done, and as he does, Job 26:5-13; beginning at the lower parts of the creation, and gradually ascending to the superior and celestial ones; and concludes with observing, that, after all, it was but little that was known of God and his ways, by himself, by Bildad, or by any mortal creature, Job 26:14.

Footnotes 9

Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.