Job 38:10-40

10 I marked a boundary for the sea and kept it behind bolted gates.
11 I told it, "So far and no farther! Here your powerful waves must stop."
12 Job, have you ever in all your life commanded a day to dawn?
13 Have you ordered the dawn to seize the earth and shake the wicked from their hiding places?
14 Daylight makes the hills and valleys stand out like the folds of a garment, clear as the imprint of a seal on clay.
15 The light of day is too bright for the wicked and restrains them from doing violence.
16 Have you been to the springs in the depths of the sea? Have you walked on the floor of the ocean?
17 Has anyone ever shown you the gates that guard the dark world of the dead?
18 Have you any idea how big the world is? Answer me if you know.
19 Do you know where the light comes from or what the source of darkness is?
20 Can you show them how far to go, or send them back again?
21 I am sure you can, because you're so old and were there when the world was made!
22 Have you ever visited the storerooms, where I keep the snow and the hail?
23 I keep them ready for times of trouble, for days of battle and war.
24 Have you been to the place where the sun comes up, or the place from which the east wind blows?
25 Who dug a channel for the pouring rain and cleared the way for the thunderstorm?
26 Who makes rain fall where no one lives?
27 Who waters the dry and thirsty land, so that grass springs up?
28 Does either the rain or the dew have a father?
29 Who is the mother of the ice and the frost,
30 which turn the waters to stone and freeze the face of the sea?
31 Can you tie the Pleiades together 1 or loosen the bonds that hold Orion?
32 Can you guide the stars season by season and direct the Big and the Little Dipper?
33 Do you know the laws that govern the skies, and can you make them apply to the earth?
34 Can you shout orders to the clouds and make them drench you with rain?
35 And if you command the lightning to flash, will it come to you and say, "At your service"?
36 Who tells the ibis when the Nile will flood, or who tells the rooster that rain will fall?
37 Who is wise enough to count the clouds and tilt them over to pour out the rain,
38 rain that hardens the dust into lumps?
39 Do you find food for lions to eat, and satisfy hungry young lions
40 when they hide in their caves, or lie in wait in their dens?

Job 38:10-40 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.

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Cross References 1

  • 1. 38.31Job 9.9;Amos 5.8.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. ibis: [A bird in ancient Egypt that was believed to announce the flooding of the Nile River.]
  • [b]. [Verse 36 in Hebrew is unclear.]
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.