Job 38:2-12

2 Who is this that wrappeth up sentences in unskilful words?

3 Gird up thy loins like a man: I will ask thee, and answer thou me.

4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? tell me if thou hast understanding.

5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest or who hath stretched the line upon it?

6 Upon what are its bases grounded? or who laid the corner stone thereof,

7 When the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody?

8 Who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth as issuing out of the womb:

9 When I made a cloud the garment thereof, and wrapped it in a mist as in swaddling bands?

10 I set my bounds around it, and made it bars and doors:

11 And I said: Hitherto thou shalt come, and shalt go no further, and here thou shalt break thy swelling waves.

12 Didst thou since thy birth command the morning, and shew the dawning of the day 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.