Job 38:8-11

8 “Or who ¹shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb,

9 when I made clouds its garment and ²thick darkness its swaddling band,

10 and prescribed ³limits for it and set bars and doors,

11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your ⁴proud waves be stayed’?

Job 38:8-11 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.

Cross References

• 1. 38:8 Gen. 1:9; Ps. 33:7; 104:8, 9; Jer. 5:22
• 2. 38:9 ch. 22:13
• 3. 38:10 [ver. 33 (Heb.)]
• 4. 38:11 [Ps. 65:7; 89:9; 93:4]