Job 38:38

38 when the parched ground is dry and the soil has hardened into clods?

Job 38:38 Meaning and Commentary

Job 38:38

When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast
together?
] When the dust is attenuated, and ground, as it were, into powder; and the clods cleave together, as if glued, as in a drought for want of rain: or the bottles of heaven being unstopped and poured out; or

``sprinkling the dust with this sprinkling,''

as Mr. Broughton. Or rather, pouring on the dust with pouring; that is, pouring down rain, by unstopping the bottles of heaven. The dust, as meal, by water poured into it, cements, unites, and is compacted, and becomes earth, that may be cultivated; is clodded and cleaves together, and may be ploughed and sown.

Job 38:38 In-Context

36 Who gives intuition to the heart and instinct to the mind?
37 Who is wise enough to count all the clouds? Who can tilt the water jars of heaven
38 when the parched ground is dry and the soil has hardened into clods?
39 “Can you stalk prey for a lioness and satisfy the young lions’ appetites
40 as they lie in their dens or crouch in the thicket?
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.