Job 38:12

12 Job, have you ever in all your life commanded a day to dawn?

Job 38:12 Meaning and Commentary

Job 38:12

Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days;
&c.] Job had lived to see many a morning, but it never was in his power to command one; he had been in such circumstances as to wish for morning light before it was, but was obliged to wait for it, could not hasten it, or cause it to spring before its time; see ( Job 7:3 Job 7:4 ) ; one of the Targums is,

``wast thou in the days of the first creation, and commandedst the morning to be?''

he was not, God was; he was before the first morning, and commanded it into being, ( Genesis 1:3-5 ) ( Isaiah 43:13 ) ;

[and] caused the dayspring to know his place;
the first spring of light or dawn of day; which though it has a different place every day in the year, as the sun ascends or descends in the signs of the Zodiac, yet it knows and observes its exact place, being taught of God.

Job 38:12 In-Context

10 I marked a boundary for the sea and kept it behind bolted gates.
11 I told it, "So far and no farther! Here your powerful waves must stop."
12 Job, have you ever in all your life commanded a day to dawn?
13 Have you ordered the dawn to seize the earth and shake the wicked from their hiding places?
14 Daylight makes the hills and valleys stand out like the folds of a garment, clear as the imprint of a seal on clay.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.