Job 38:18

18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.

Job 38:18 in Other Translations

KJV
18 Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all.
ESV
18 Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.
NLT
18 Do you realize the extent of the earth? Tell me about it if you know!
MSG
18 And do you have any idea how large this earth is? Speak up if you have even the beginning of an answer.
CSB
18 Have you comprehended the extent of the earth? Tell [Me], if you know all this.

Job 38:18 Meaning and Commentary

Job 38:18

Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth?
&c.] Which may be put for all the dimensions of it, length, breadth, diameter, and circumference, but especially it regards the surface of it, and the measurement of that; hast thou gone over the whole face of the earth and measured it, all its parts, its hills and dales, rocks and mountains, and took a survey of all the cities, towns and villages, woods, forests, fountains, rivers, &c? no; if a man lived as long as Methuselah, and spent all his days in this way, he could never be able to do it; and some parts are inaccessible, and not to be measured by the most skilful geometer;

declare, if thou knowest it all;
the whole earth and every part of it, and all that is in it. Whether the other hemisphere and the antipodes were known in Job's time is a question; however not America, or the new world, which is a late discovery; and even now, in our most exact maps of the world, some parts are marked with "terra incognita", the unknown land.

Job 38:18 In-Context

16 “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.
19 “What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside?
20 Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings?

Cross References 2

  • 1. S Job 28:24; Isaiah 40:12
  • 2. S ver 4
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