Job 38:2-12

2 "Who is this, darkening my plans with his ignorant words?

3 Stand up like a man, and brace yourself; I will ask questions; and you, give the answers!

4 "Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell me, if you know so much.

5 Do you know who determined its dimensions or who stretched the measuring line across it?

6 On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,

7 when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8 "Who shut up the sea behind closed doors when it gushed forth from the womb,

9 when I made the clouds its blanket and dense fog its swaddling cloth,

10 when I made the breakers its boundary set its gates and bars,

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

12 "Have you ever in your life called up the dawn and made the morning know its place,

Job 38:2-12 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.