Job 38:11

11 I said, 'You can come this far. But you can't come any farther. Here is where your proud waves have to stop.'

Job 38:11 Meaning and Commentary

Job 38:11

And said, hitherto shalt thou come, but no further
The waters of the sea shall spread themselves to such and such shores, and wash them, but go no further; its rolling tides shall go up so far in rivers that go out of it, and then return, keeping exactly to time and place; this is said by Jehovah, the Word of God, and through his almighty power is tended to;

and here shall thy proud waves be stayed;
so high and no higher shall they lift up themselves; so far and no farther shall they roll on, than to the boundaries fixed for them; and though they may toss up themselves as proud men toss up their heads, for which, reason pride is ascribed to them, yet they shall not prevail, ( Jeremiah 5:22 ) ; all this may be accommodated to the afflictions of God's people, which are sometimes compared to the waves and billows of the sea, ( Psalms 42:7 ) ( 88:7 ) ; and these issue out of the womb of God's purposes and decrees, and are not the effects of chance; they are many, and threaten to overwhelm, but God is with his people in them, and preserves them from being overflowed by them; he has set the bounds and measures of them, beyond which they cannot go; see ( Isaiah 27:8 ) ( 43:2 ) ; and also to the world, and to the men of it, who are like a troubled sea, ( Daniel 7:2 Daniel 7:3 ) ( Isaiah 57:20 ) ; and who rise, and swell, and dash against the people of God, being separated from them who were originally mixed with them; but the Lord restrains their wrath and fury, and suffers them not to do his people any harm; whom he has placed in the munition of rocks out of their reach, that those proud waters cannot go over them as they threaten to do; see ( Psalms 76:10 ) ( 124:2-6 ) .

Job 38:11 In-Context

9 I put clouds over it as if they were its clothes. I wrapped it in thick darkness.
10 I set limits for it. I put its doors and metal bars in place.
11 I said, 'You can come this far. But you can't come any farther. Here is where your proud waves have to stop.'
12 "Job, have you ever commanded the morning to come? Have you ever shown the sun where to rise?
13 The daylight takes the earth by its edges as if it were a blanket. Then it shakes sinful people out of it.
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