Job 38:8-11

8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,

9 when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness,

10 when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place,

11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?

Job 38:8-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 38

In this chapter the Lord takes up the controversy with Job; calls upon him to prepare to engage with him in it, and demands an answer to posing questions he puts to him, concerning the earth and the fabric of it, Job 38:1-7; concerning the sea, compared to an infant in embryo, at its birth, in its swaddling bands and cradle, Job 38:8-11; concerning the morning light, its spread and influence, Job 38:12-15; concerning the springs of the sea, the dark parts of the earth, the place both of light and darkness, Job 38:16-21; concerning the various meteors, snow, hail, rain, thunder, lightning, and the influences of the stars, Job 38:22-38; and concerning provision for lions and ravens, Job 38:40,41.

Cross References

• 1. ver 11; Psalms 33:7; Proverbs 8:29; Jeremiah 5:22
• 2. S Genesis 1:9-10
• 3. S Genesis 1:2
• 4. S Job 28:25; Psalms 33:7; Psalms 104:9; Isaiah 40:12
• 5. Nehemiah 3:3; Job 7:12; Job 26:10
• 6. S ver 8
• 7. Psalms 65:7; Psalms 89:9; Psalms 104:6-9