Job 37:18

18 You cannot stretch out the sky like God and make it look as hard as polished bronze.

Job 37:18 Meaning and Commentary

Job 37:18

Hast thou with him spread out the sky?
&c.] Wast thou concerned with him at the first spreading out of the sky? wast thou an assistant to him in it? did he not spread it as a curtain or canopy about himself, without the help of another? verily he did; see ( Job 9:8 ) ( Isaiah 44:24 ) ;

[which] is strong:
for though it seems a fluid and thin, is very firm and strong, as appears by what it bears, and are contained in it; and therefore is called "the firmament of his power", ( Psalms 150:1 ) ;

[and] as a molten looking glass;
clear and transparent, like the looking glasses of the women, made of molten brass, ( Exodus 38:8 ) ; and firm and permanent F21; and a glass this is in which the glory of God, and his divine perfections, is to be seen; and is one of the wondrous works of God, made for the display of his own glory, and the benefit of men, ( Psalms 19:1 ) . Or this may respect the spreading out a clear serene sky, and smoothing it after it has been covered and ruffled with storms and tempests; which is such a wonderful work of God, that man has no hand in.


FOOTNOTES:

F21 (calkeov ouranov) . Pindar. Nem. Ode 6.

Job 37:18 In-Context

16 Do you know how the clouds hang in the sky? Do you know the miracles of God, who knows everything?
17 You suffer in your clothes when the land is silenced by the hot, south wind.
18 You cannot stretch out the sky like God and make it look as hard as polished bronze.
19 Tell us what we should say to him; we cannot get our arguments ready because we do not have enough understanding.
20 Should God be told that I want to speak? Would a person ask to be swallowed up?
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.