Job 38:18

18 As-tu embrassé du regard l'étendue de la terre? Parle, si tu sais toutes ces choses.

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 As-tu pénétré jusqu'aux sources de la mer? T'es-tu promené dans les profondeurs de l'abîme?
17 Les portes de la mort t'ont-elles été ouvertes? As-tu vu les portes de l'ombre de la mort?
18 As-tu embrassé du regard l'étendue de la terre? Parle, si tu sais toutes ces choses.
19 Où est le chemin qui conduit au séjour de la lumière? Et les ténèbres, où ont-elles leur demeure?
20 Peux-tu les saisir à leur limite, Et connaître les sentiers de leur habitation?
The Louis Segond 1910 is in the public domain.