Job 38:20

20 Can you show them how far to go, or send them back again?

Job 38:20 Meaning and Commentary

Job 38:20

That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof
Either darkness, or rather the light; take it as it were by the hand, and guide and direct its course to its utmost bound. This only the Lord can do and does: he has set a tabernacle for the sun, which goes forth at his command as a strong man to run a race; whose going forth is from the end of the heavens, and his circuit unto the ends of it: in which his course is so steered and directed by the Lord, that he never misses his way or errs from it; but keeps his path exactly, as well as knows its rising and setting, its utmost bounds;

and that thou shouldest know the paths [to] the house thereof?
from whence it sets out, and whither it returns; see ( Psalms 19:4-6 ) . And so the light and darkness of prosperity and adversity, as well as natural light and darkness, are of God, at his disposal, and bounded by him, and therefore his will should be submitted to; which is the doctrine the Lord would teach Job by all this.

Job 38:20 In-Context

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?
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.