Job 38:4-14

4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much.

5 Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line?

6 What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone

7 as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

8 “Who kept the sea inside its boundaries as it burst from the womb,

9 and as I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness?

10 For I locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores.

11 I said, ‘This far and no farther will you come. Here your proud waves must stop!’

12 “Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east?

13 Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth, to bring an end to the night’s wickedness?

14 As the light approaches, the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal; it is robed in brilliant colors.

Job 38:4-14 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew the sons of God.
• [b]. Or its features stand out like folds in a robe.