Job chapter 38

The LORD arrives in the midst of a storm. He answers Job. He portrays the majesty of the earth, the sky, stars and clouds, and lions and ravens.

 


 

THE LORD ANSWERS JOB

 

VERSE 1. Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind,

out of the whirlwind. That is, out of a storm.

The word “storm” translates the Hebrew word s’arah, which is a tempest or storm accompanied by violent wind.

The LORD God’s appearance was accompanied by a storm.

 

VERSE 2. “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

Who is this. God begins by rebuking Job.

 

VERSE 3. Brace yourself like a man, for I will question you, then you answer me!

Brace yourself like a man. That is, “gird up your loins like a man.”

In those days, before men ran or fought in battle, they would tuck their outer robe into their sash-belt.

 

THE EARTH

 

VERSE 4. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding.

Where were you when. God demonstrates his majestic greatness by looking at the wonder of the world.

Everything that is knowable bespeaks the greatness of God.

 

VERSE 5. Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it?

 

VERSE 6. Whereupon were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone,

 

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

 

VERSE 8. “Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke out of the womb,

 

VERSE 9. when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness,

 

VERSE 10. marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors,

 

VERSE 11. and said, ‘Here you may come, but no further. Here your proud waves shall be stayed?’

 

VERSE 12. “Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place;

 

VERSE 13. that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it?

shake the wicked out of it. Wicked people were active at night and dormant in the day. Thus the dawn “shakes” the wicked out of itself.

 

VERSE 14. It is changed as clay under the seal, and presented as a garment.

 

VERSE 15. From the wicked, their light is withheld. The high arm is broken.

 

VERSE 16. “Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?

 

VERSE 17. Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

 

VERSE 18. Have you comprehended the earth in its width? Declare, if you know it all.

 

VERSE 19. “What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place,

 

VERSE 20. that you should take it to its bound, that you should discern the paths to its house?

 

VERSE 21. Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!

 

THE SKY

 

VERSE 22. Have you entered the treasuries of the snow, or have you seen the treasures of the hail,

 

VERSE 23. which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?

 

VERSE 24. By what way is the lightning distributed, or the east wind scattered on the earth?

 

VERSE 25. Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm;

 

VERSE 26. To cause it to rain on a land where no man is; on the wilderness, in which there is no man;

 

VERSE 27. to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to grow?

 

VERSE 28. Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew?

 

VERSE 29. Out of whose womb came the ice? The gray frost of the sky, who has given birth to it?

 

VERSE 30. The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen.

 

STARS AND CLOUDS

 

VERSE 31. “Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?

 

VERSE 32. Can you lead the constellations out in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs?

 

VERSE 33. Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish its dominion over the earth?

 

VERSE 34. “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That abundance of waters may cover you?

 

VERSE 35. Can you send out lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are?’

 

VERSE 36. Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind?

 

VERSE 37. Who can count the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the containers of the sky,

 

VERSE 38. when the dust runs into a mass, and the clods of earth stick together?

 

LIONS AND RAVENS

 

VERSE 39. “Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

 

VERSE 40. when they crouch in their dens, and lie in wait in the thicket?

 

VERSE 41. Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?

 


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JOB

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RESOURCES: Summary, Outline, MemorizeJob’s Dark Night

Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.