Job 38:2-12

2 Who [is] this -- darkening counsel, By words without knowledge?

3 Gird, I pray thee, as a man, thy loins, And I ask thee, and cause thou Me to know.

4 Where wast thou when I founded earth? Declare, if thou hast known understanding.

5 Who placed its measures -- if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched out upon it a line?

6 On what have its sockets been sunk? Or who hath cast its corner-stone?

7 In the singing together of stars of morning, And all sons of God shout for joy,

8 And He shutteth up with doors the sea, In its coming forth, from the womb it goeth out.

9 In My making a cloud its clothing, And thick darkness its swaddling band,

10 And I measure over it My statute, And place bar and doors,

11 And say, `Hitherto come thou, and add not, And a command is placed On the pride of thy billows.'

12 Hast thou commanded morning since thy days? Causest thou the dawn to 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.