Job 38

Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind. He said:

1Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,

Note"The LORD" in capitals stands for the personal name of God in Hebrew (YHWH), which Jewish tradition avoided pronouncing; the translators substituted "the LORD" wherever it occurs. The "whirlwind" is a violent storm wind rather than a tornado specifically; in Hebrew writing, God speaking out of a storm is a standard way of describing his appearing.

2"Who is this who darkens my plans with words spoken without knowledge?

2Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

Note"Darkens" here means obscures or muddies, the opposite of making something clear. "Counsel" in 1611 English meant a plan or design, not advice given to someone.

3Get yourself ready for hard work, like a man tightening his belt. I will question you, and you will answer me.

3Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.

NoteMen wore long robes; to work hard, run, or fight, they pulled the hem up and tucked it into their belt. "Gird up your loins" was the ordinary way of saying "get ready for something demanding."

4Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you understand.

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

NoteThe earth is pictured throughout this section as a building under construction, with foundations, measurements, a marking line, and a cornerstone.

5Who decided its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the measuring line across it?

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

NoteA measuring line was a builder's cord, stretched across the ground to lay out the dimensions of a structure before digging.

6What are its foundations set on? Who laid its cornerstone,

6Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;

NoteThe cornerstone was the first stone set in place at a corner of a building; every other stone was aligned to it, so laying it was the decisive moment of construction.

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

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

Note"Sons of God" (Hebrew *bene elohim*) is the standard phrase for the heavenly beings who make up God's court, the same group that appears in Job 1 and 2. "Morning stars" stands in parallel with it; the two lines describe the same singers.

8Or who shut the sea behind doors when it burst out, as if it came from a womb,

8Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?

NoteThe sea is described as a newborn: bursting out of a womb, then shut behind doors. Ancient Near Eastern poetry regularly pictured the sea as an unruly force that had to be confined.

9when I made the clouds its clothing and thick darkness the cloth wrapped around it,

9When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,

NoteA newborn was wrapped tightly in long strips of cloth ("swaddling bands") to hold its limbs still. Here the storm clouds and darkness are that wrapping.

10when I marked out for it the limits I had decided on, and set its bars and doors in place,

10And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,

Note"Bars" are the heavy beams laid across the inside of city gates to hold them shut. The sea's shoreline is imagined as a barred gate.

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

11And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?

12In all your days, have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place,

12Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;

13so that it could take hold of the edges of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?

13That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?

NoteTwo images run together: the dawn light grips the earth like the edge of a cloth, and shaking it dislodges the wicked the way shaking a garment dislodges vermin. Thieves and murderers were assumed to work at night, so daybreak drives them out.

14Under that light the earth takes shape the way clay takes the mark of a seal, and its features stand out like the folds of a garment.

14It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.

NoteA seal was a carved stone stamp or roller pressed into soft clay, leaving a raised design. As low dawn light rakes across the land, hills and folds of ground stand out the way a seal's impression stands out of clay.

15The light the wicked count on is held back from them, and the arm they raised to strike is broken.

15And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.

Note"Their light" is darkness, night is the working light of those who do wrong, and dawn takes it away. The "high" or raised arm is the arm lifted to strike; breaking it means stripping away power to harm.

16Have you gone down to the places where the sea springs up? Have you walked in the trenches of the deep?

16Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?

NoteThe sea was thought to be fed by springs on the ocean floor, connected to a vast body of water beneath the earth. "The deep" (Hebrew *tehom*) is that primeval water, the same word used of the waters at creation in Genesis 1.

17Have the gates of death been opened to you? Have you seen the doors of the deep shadow of death?

17Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?

NoteThe realm of the dead was pictured as a walled city underground, entered through gates that only open one way. "The shadow of death" translates a Hebrew word meaning deepest darkness, with the sense of death's gloom.

18Have you taken in how wide the earth is? Tell me, if you know all of this.

18Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all.

19Where is the road to the place where light lives? And darkness, where is its home,

19Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof,

NoteLight and darkness are treated as things that live somewhere and travel out from home each day and return, so knowing "the way" to their houses would mean controlling when they come and go.

20so that you could lead each one back to its own border and know the paths to its house?

20That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?

21Do you know, because you were already born back then? Because you have lived so many years?

21Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great?

NoteThese two lines are sarcasm. The sense is: of course you know all this: you were there at the beginning, and you are that old.

22Have you gone into the storehouses where the snow is kept? Have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

22Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,

NoteSnow and hail are imagined as kept in heavenly storerooms, opened when needed. The word also means an armory: hail in particular was thought of as a weapon, as in the hailstorm that routs an army in Joshua 10.

23which I have held in reserve for times of trouble, for the day of battle and war?

23Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?

24Which way is the light spread out? Where does the east wind get scattered over the earth?

24By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?

NoteThe Hebrew word here simply means "light," and translators differ over whether it refers to lightning, daylight spreading at dawn, or the sun's heat that drives the east wind. The ambiguity is in the original.

25Who cut a channel for the flooding rain, or a path for the thunderbolt,

25Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;

NoteRain is pictured as falling through channels cut in the sky, like irrigation ditches dug for floodwater; the thunderbolt likewise travels a cut path.

26to bring rain on land where no one lives, on the desert where there is no person at all,

26To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;

27to soak the empty, ruined ground and make tender young grass sprout there?

27To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?

28Does the rain have a father? Who gave life to the drops of dew?

28Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?

29Out of whose womb did the ice come? Who gave birth to the white frost that comes down from the sky?

29Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?

Note"Hoary" means white or gray with age; hoar frost is the white frost that forms overnight.

30The water becomes hard as stone, and the surface of the deep freezes solid.

30The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

31Can you tie up the cords of the Pleiades, or loosen the belt of Orion?

31Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?

NoteThe Pleiades and Orion are star groups visible through the winter sky. The Hebrew pictures the Pleiades as tied together by cords or chains, and Orion as a giant held by a belt or fetters, so binding and loosening them means governing when they appear.

32Can you bring out Mazzaroth at the right time of year, or lead out the Bear with her cubs?

32Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?

Note"Mazzaroth" is left untranslated because its meaning is uncertain; it most likely means the constellations that rise in sequence through the year, roughly what we call the zodiac. The next star group, called Arcturus by the King James translators, is more probably the Bear, the stars of the Big Dipper, with the smaller stars around it called her children.

33Do you know the laws that govern the heavens? Can you set their rule over the earth?

33Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?

Note"Ordinances" means fixed regulations. The point is the settled order by which the heavenly bodies move and by which they govern seasons, weather, and time on earth.

34Can you shout an order up to the clouds, so that a flood of water covers you?

34Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?

35Can you send out the lightning bolts, so that they go where you send them and say to you, 'Here we are'?

35Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?

36Who put wisdom deep inside a person? Who gave understanding to the mind?

36Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?

NoteThe two Hebrew words in this verse are among the most disputed in the book. They may mean the hidden inward parts and the mind, as rendered here; but ancient translators took them as the names of birds, the ibis and the rooster, creatures credited with sensing the Nile flood and the coming dawn. Both readings remain in print.

37Who is wise enough to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars of the sky,

37Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven,

Note"Bottles" were skin bags used to carry liquid; large storage jars were used the same way. Rain is imagined as water held in such containers in the sky and tipped out.

38when the dust hardens into a solid mass and the clumps of dirt stick together?

38When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together?

39Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the hunger of the young lions,

39Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions,

NoteThe Hebrew word is the lioness, which does the hunting for the pride, so the question is whether Job can do a lion's own work for her.

40when they crouch in their dens and lie waiting in the thick brush?

40When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait?

41Who provides food for the raven, when its young cry out to God and wander around with nothing to eat?

41Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.

NoteThe raven was a scavenger and, under Israel's food laws, an unclean bird, the least likely creature to be fed by God's hand, which is the point of choosing it.