Job 38:4-15

The establishing of order

4 Where were you when I laid the earth's foundations? Tell me if you know.

5 Who set its measurements? Surely you know. Who stretched a measuring tape on it?

6 On what were its footings sunk; who laid its cornerstone,

7 while the morning stars sang in unison and all the divine beings shouted?

8 Who enclosed the Sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,

9 when I made the clouds its garment, the dense clouds its wrap,

10 when I imposed my limit for it, put on a bar and doors

11 and said, "You may come this far, no farther; here your proud waves stop"?

12 In your lifetime have you commanded the morning, informed the dawn of its place

13 so it would take hold of earth by its edges and shake the wicked out of it?

14 Do you turn it over like clay for a seal, so it stands out like a colorful garment?

15 Light is withheld from the wicked, the uplifted arm broken.

Job 38:4-15 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]. Heb Yam, a sea god
• [b]. Heb uncertain