Job 38 Berean Standard Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
1 Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind,
2 “Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge?
2 “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me.
3 Brace yourself like a man, for I will question you, then you answer me!
4 Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding.
5 Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched a measuring line across it?
5 Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it?
6 On what were its foundations set, or who laid its cornerstone,
6 What were its foundations fastened on? Or who laid its cornerstone,
7 while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
7 when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,
8 “Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke out of the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its blanket,
9 when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 when I fixed its boundaries and set in place its bars and doors,
10 marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors,
11 and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther; here your proud waves must stop’?
11 and said, ‘You may come here, but no further. Your proud waves shall be stopped here’?
12 In your days, have you commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place,
12 “Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place,
13 that it might spread to the ends of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?
13 that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it?
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.
14 It is changed as clay under the seal, and presented as a garment.
15 Light is withheld from the wicked, and their upraised arm is broken.
15 From the wicked, their light is withheld. The high arm is broken.
16 Have you journeyed to the vents of the sea or walked in the trenches of the deep?
16 “Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
18 Have you surveyed the extent of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.
18 Have you comprehended the earth in its width? Declare, if you know it all.
19 Where is the way to the home of light? Do you know where darkness resides,
19 “What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place,
20 so you can lead it back to its border? Do you know the paths to its home?
20 that you should take it to its bound, that you should discern the paths to its house?
21 Surely you know, for you were already born! And the number of your days is great!
21 Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!
22 Have you entered the storehouses of snow or observed the storehouses of hail,
22 Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I hold in reserve for times of trouble, for the day of war and battle?
23 which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?
24 In which direction is the lightning dispersed, or the east wind scattered over the earth?
24 By what way is the lightning distributed, or the east wind scattered on the earth?
25 Who cuts a channel for the flood or clears a path for the thunderbolt,
25 Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm,
26 to bring rain on a barren land, on a desert where no man lives,
26 to cause it to rain on a land where there is no man, on the wilderness, in which there is no man,
27 to satisfy the parched wasteland and make it sprout with tender grass?
27 to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to grow?
28 Does the rain have a father? Who has begotten the drops of dew?
28 Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb does the ice emerge? Who gives birth to the frost from heaven,
29 Whose womb did the ice come out of? Who has given birth to the gray frost of the sky?
30 when the waters become hard as stone and the surface of the deep is frozen?
30 The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen.
31 Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion?
31 “Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear and her cubs?
32 Can you lead the constellations out in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish its dominion over the earth?
34 Can you command the clouds so that a flood of water covers you?
34 “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover you?
35 Can you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
35 Can you send out lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 Who has put wisdom in the heart or given understanding to the mind?
36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind?
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens
37 Who can count the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the containers of the sky,
38 when the dust hardens into a mass and the clods of earth stick together?
38 when the dust runs into a mass, and the clods of earth stick together?
39 Can you hunt the prey for a lioness or satisfy the hunger of young lions
39 “Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40 when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait in the thicket?
40 when they crouch in their dens, and lie in wait in the thicket?
41 Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?
41 Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?
Cross references (40)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Job 40:6; 2 Kings 2:11; Job 37:1–2; Exodus 19:16–19; 1 Kings 19:11
- 2 Job 42:3; Job 35:16; 1 Timothy 1:7; Job 34:35; Job 27:11
- 3 Job 40:7; Jeremiah 1:17; Exodus 12:11; 1 Kings 18:46; 1 Peter 1:13
- 4 Psalm 104:5; Hebrews 1:10; Proverbs 30:4; Hebrews 1:2; Psalm 102:25
- 5 Isaiah 40:12; Job 11:9; Zechariah 2:1–2; Proverbs 8:27; Isaiah 40:22
- 6 Job 26:7; Psalm 104:5; Psalm 93:1; Isaiah 28:16; 2 Peter 3:5
- 7 Revelation 5:11; Job 1:6; Ezra 3:11–12; Revelation 22:16; Revelation 2:28
- 8 Genesis 1:9; Proverbs 8:29; Jeremiah 5:22; Psalm 104:8–9; Psalm 33:7
- 9 Genesis 1:2
- 10 Jeremiah 5:22; Psalm 104:9; Psalm 33:7; Job 26:10; Genesis 1:9–10
- 11 Psalm 89:9; Proverbs 8:29; Psalm 65:6–7; Luke 8:32–33; Mark 4:39–41
- 12 Psalm 74:16; Psalm 148:3–5; Genesis 1:5; Job 8:9; Psalm 136:7–8
- 13 Psalm 104:35; Job 37:3; Exodus 14:27; Psalm 104:21–22; Job 24:13–17
- 14 Psalm 104:6; Psalm 104:2
- 15 Psalm 10:15; Psalm 37:17; Job 18:5; Proverbs 4:19; Ezekiel 30:22
- 16 Proverbs 8:24; Psalm 77:19; Job 26:5–6; Jeremiah 51:36
- 17 Psalm 9:13; Psalm 107:18; Job 3:5; Job 12:22; Psalm 107:14
- 18 Revelation 20:9; Psalm 89:11–12; Jeremiah 31:37; Isaiah 40:28; Job 28:24
- 19 Ezekiel 32:8; Matthew 27:45; Isaiah 45:7; Genesis 1:3–4; Amos 4:13
- 20 Job 26:10; Genesis 10:19; Genesis 23:17
- 21 Job 15:7; Job 38:4; Job 38:12
- 22 Job 37:6; Psalm 135:7; Psalm 33:7; Job 6:16
- 23 Joshua 10:11; Isaiah 30:30; Revelation 16:21; Exodus 9:18; Job 36:13
- 24 Job 38:12–13; Jonah 4:8; Matthew 24:27
- 25 Job 28:26; Psalm 29:3–10; Job 36:27–28; Job 37:3–6
- 26 Jeremiah 14:22; Psalm 107:35; Hebrews 6:7–8; Isaiah 35:1–2; Isaiah 43:19–20
- 27 Psalm 107:35; Psalm 104:14
- 28 Jeremiah 14:22; Psalm 147:8; Jeremiah 10:13; Proverbs 3:20; Deuteronomy 33:13
- 29 Psalm 147:16–17; Job 37:10; Job 6:16; Job 38:8
- 30 Job 37:10
- 31 Amos 5:8; Job 9:9
- 32 Job 38:31; 2 Kings 23:5; Job 9:9
- 33 Jeremiah 31:35–36; Genesis 8:22; Psalm 148:6; Job 38:12–13; Jeremiah 33:25
- 34 Job 22:11; Zechariah 10:1; James 5:18; Job 36:27–28; 1 Samuel 12:18
- 35 Job 36:32; Job 37:3; 2 Kings 1:14; Revelation 11:5–6; Numbers 16:35
- 36 Job 32:8; Psalm 51:6; Proverbs 2:6; Ecclesiastes 2:26; James 1:5
- 37 Psalm 147:4; Genesis 9:15; Genesis 8:1; Genesis 15:5
- 39 Psalm 104:21; Job 4:10–11; Psalm 34:10; Psalm 145:15–16
- 40 Job 37:8; Numbers 24:9; Numbers 23:24; Genesis 49:9
- 41 Luke 12:24; Matthew 6:26; Psalm 147:9; Psalm 104:27–28
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Who is the father of the rain? And who hath begotten the drops of dew?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
And yet, O talkative Dialectician, I will ask thee one small question, and answer thou me, as He saith to Job, Who through whirlwind and cloud giveth Divine admonitions. Are there many mansions in God's House, as thou hast heard, or only one?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
Put then a limit to your thought, so that your curiosity in investigating the incomprehensible may not incur the reproaches of Job, and you be not asked by him, "Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened?" If ever you hear in the Psalms, "I bear up the pillars of it;" see in these pillars the power which sustains it.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)
… condensed the air into clouds, and bade them carry the waters of the rain, now bringing golden-tinted clouds from the north, now changing these into one uniform appearance, and again transforming them into manifold circles and other shapes? Who can number the clouds in wisdom?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
Whereof in Job it saith, And He knoweth the separations of the clouds, and hath bent down the heaven to the earth: and, He who numbereth the clouds in wisdom: and, the cloud is not rent under Him.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)