Job 38:3-13

3 Brace yourself like a man! I will ask you, and you will teach me.

4 "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have [such] insight.

5 Who determined its dimensions? Certainly, you know! Who stretched a measuring line over it?

6 On what were its footings sunk? Who laid its cornerstone

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

8 "Who shut the sea behind gates when it burst through and came out of the womb,

9 when I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it up in dark clouds,

10 when I set a limit for it and put up bars and gates,

11 when I said, 'You may come this far but no farther. Here your proud waves will stop'?

12 "Have you ever given orders to the morning or assigned a place for the dawn

13 so that it could grab the earth by its edges and shake wicked people out of it?

Job 38:3-13 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.