Job 26:3-13

3 You give such good advice and share your knowledge with a fool like me!

4 Who do you think will hear all your words? Who inspired you to speak like this?

5 The spirits of the dead tremble in the waters under the earth.

6 The world of the dead lies open to God; no covering shields it from his sight.

7 God stretched out the northern sky and hung the earth in empty space.

8 It is God who fills the clouds with water and keeps them from bursting with the weight.

9 He hides the full moon behind a cloud.

10 He divided light from darkness by a circle drawn on the face of the sea.

11 When he threatens the pillars that hold up the sky, they shake and tremble with fear.

12 It is his strength that conquered the sea; by his skill he destroyed the monster Rahab.

13 It is his breath that made the sky clear, and his hand that killed the escaping monster.

Job 26:3-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 26

In this chapter Job, in a very sarcastic manner, rallies Bildad on the weakness and impertinence of his reply, and sets it in a very ridiculous light; showing it to be quite foolish and stupid, and not at all to the purpose, and besides was none of his own, but what he had borrowed from another, Job 26:1-4; and if it was of any avail in the controversy to speak of the greatness and majesty of God, of his perfections and attributes, of his ways and works, he could say greater and more glorious things of God than he had done, and as he does, Job 26:5-13; beginning at the lower parts of the creation, and gradually ascending to the superior and celestial ones; and concludes with observing, that, after all, it was but little that was known of God and his ways, by himself, by Bildad, or by any mortal creature, Job 26:14.

Footnotes

• [a]. conquered the sea: [A reference to an ancient story in which the sea fought against God.]
• [b]. rahab: [See 9.13.]
• [c]. escaping monster: [See 9.8.]