Job 26:5-13

5 “The dead are in deep anguish, those beneath the waters and all that live in them.
6 The realm of the dead is naked before God; Destruction[a] lies uncovered.
7 He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing.
8 He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.
9 He covers the face of the full moon, spreading his clouds over it.
10 He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters for a boundary between light and darkness.
11 The pillars of the heavens quake, aghast at his rebuke.
12 By his power he churned up the sea; by his wisdom he cut Rahab to pieces.
13 By his breath the skies became fair; his hand pierced the gliding serpent.

Job 26:5-13 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.

Cross References 17

  • 1. Psalms 88:10; Isaiah 14:9; Isaiah 26:14
  • 2. Psalms 139:8
  • 3. S Job 20:26; S Revelation 9:11
  • 4. Job 10:22; Job 11:8; Job 38:17; Job 41:11; Psalms 139:11-12; Proverbs 15:11; S Hebrews 4:13
  • 5. Job 9:8
  • 6. Job 38:6; Psalms 104:5; Proverbs 3:19-20; Proverbs 8:27; Isaiah 40:22
  • 7. Proverbs 30:4
  • 8. S Genesis 1:2; Job 36:27; Job 37:11; Psalms 147:8
  • 9. S 2 Samuel 22:10; S Job 22:14; Psalms 97:2
  • 10. Proverbs 8:27,29; Isaiah 40:22
  • 11. S Genesis 1:4; S Job 28:3; Job 38:8-11
  • 12. S 2 Samuel 22:8
  • 13. S Exodus 14:21; Isaiah 51:15; Jeremiah 31:35
  • 14. Job 12:13
  • 15. S Job 9:13
  • 16. Job 9:8
  • 17. Isaiah 27:1

Footnotes 1

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