Job 38:18

18 Have you considered closely [the] earth's vast expanse? Declare [it], if you know all of it.

Job 38:18 Meaning and Commentary

Job 38:18

Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth?
&c.] Which may be put for all the dimensions of it, length, breadth, diameter, and circumference, but especially it regards the surface of it, and the measurement of that; hast thou gone over the whole face of the earth and measured it, all its parts, its hills and dales, rocks and mountains, and took a survey of all the cities, towns and villages, woods, forests, fountains, rivers, &c? no; if a man lived as long as Methuselah, and spent all his days in this way, he could never be able to do it; and some parts are inaccessible, and not to be measured by the most skilful geometer;

declare, if thou knowest it all;
the whole earth and every part of it, and all that is in it. Whether the other hemisphere and the antipodes were known in Job's time is a question; however not America, or the new world, which is a late discovery; and even now, in our most exact maps of the world, some parts are marked with "terra incognita", the unknown land.

Job 38:18 In-Context

16 "Have you entered into [the] sea's sources? Or have you walked around in [the] recesses of the deep?
17 Have [the] gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen [the] gates of deep shadow?
18 Have you considered closely [the] earth's vast expanse? Declare [it], if you know all of it.
19 "Where then [is] the way [where] [the] light dwells? And where then [is] its place,
20 that you may take it to its territory, and that you might discern the paths to its home?
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.