Job 38:16-21

16 Have you journeyed to the vents of the sea or walked in the trenches of the deep?

17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

18 Have you surveyed the extent of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.

19 Where is the way to the home of light? Do you know where darkness resides,

20 so you can lead it back to its border? Do you know the paths to its home?

21 Surely you know, for you were already born! And the number of your days is great!

Job 38:16-21 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.