Job 38 Geneva Bible (1599)
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Original 16th-century spelling.
1 Then answered the Lord vnto Iob out of the whirle winde, and said,
1 Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind,
2 Who is this that darkeneth the counsell by wordes without knowledge?
2 “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Girde vp nowe thy loynes like a man: I will demande of thee and declare thou vnto me.
3 Brace yourself like a man, for I will question you, then you answer me!
4 Where wast thou when I layd the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast vnderstanding,
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding.
5 Who hath layde the measures thereof, if thou knowest, or who hath stretched the line ouer it:
5 Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it?
6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof set: or who layed the corner stone thereof:
6 What were its foundations fastened on? Or who laid its cornerstone,
7 When the starres of the morning praysed me together, and all the children of God reioyced:
7 when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 Or who hath shut vp the Sea with doores, when it yssued and came foorth as out of the wombe:
8 “Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke out of the womb,
9 When I made the cloudes as a couering thereof, and darkenesse as the swadeling bands thereof:
9 when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 When I stablished my commandement vpon it, and set barres and doores,
10 marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors,
11 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther, and here shall it stay thy proude waues.
11 and said, ‘You may come here, but no further. Your proud waves shall be stopped here’?
12 Hast thou commanded the morning since thy dayes? hast thou caused the morning to knowe his place,
12 “Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place,
13 That it might take hold of the corners of the earth, and that the wicked might be shaken out of it?
13 that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it?
14 It is turned as clay to facion, and all stand vp as a garment.
14 It is changed as clay under the seal, and presented as a garment.
15 And from the wicked their light shall be taken away, and the hie arme shalbe broken.
15 From the wicked, their light is withheld. The high arm is broken.
16 Hast thou entred into the bottomes of the sea? or hast thou walked to seeke out the depth?
16 “Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Haue the gates of death bene opened vnto thee? or hast thou seene the gates of the shadowe of death?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
18 Hast thou perceiued the breadth of the earth? tell if thou knowest all this.
18 Have you comprehended the earth in its width? Declare, if you know it all.
19 Where is the way where light dwelleth? and where is the place of darkenesse,
19 “What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place,
20 That thou shouldest receiue it in the boundes thereof, and that thou shouldest knowe the paths to the house thereof?
20 that you should take it to its bound, that you should discern the paths to its house?
21 Knewest thou it, because thou wast then borne, and because the nomber of thy dayes is great?
21 Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!
22 Hast thou entred into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seene the treasures of ye haile,
22 Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 Which I haue hid against the time of trouble, against the day of warre and battell?
23 which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?
24 By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the East winde vpon the earth?
24 By what way is the lightning distributed, or the east wind scattered on the earth?
25 Who hath deuided the spowtes for the raine? or the way for the lightning of ye thunders,
25 Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm,
26 To cause it to raine on the earth where no man is, and in the wildernes where there is no man?
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 fulfil the wilde and waste place, and to cause the bud of the herbe to spring forth?
27 to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to grow?
28 Who is the father of the rayne? or who hath begotten the droppes of the dewe?
28 Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew?
29 Out of whose wombe came the yee? who hath ingendred the frost of the heauen?
29 Whose womb did the ice come out of? Who has given birth to the gray frost of the sky?
30 The waters are hid as with a stone: and the face of the depth is frosen.
30 The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen.
31 Canst thou restraine the sweete influences of the Pleiades? or loose the bandes of Orion?
31 “Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?
32 Canst thou bring foorth Mazzaroth in their time? canst thou also guide Arcturus with his sonnes?
32 Can you lead the constellations out in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs?
33 Knowest thou the course of heauen, or canst thou set the rule thereof in the earth?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish its dominion over the earth?
34 Canst thou lift vp thy voice to the cloudes that the aboundance of water may couer thee?
34 “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover you?
35 Canst thou sende the lightenings that they may walke, and say vnto thee, Loe, heere we are?
35 Can you send out lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 Who hath put wisedome in the reines? or who hath giuen the heart vnderstanding?
36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind?
37 Who can nomber cloudes by wisedome? or who can cause to cease the bottels of heaue,
37 Who can count the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the containers of the sky,
38 When the earth groweth into hardnesse, and the clottes are fast together?
38 when the dust runs into a mass, and the clods of earth stick together?
39 Not in this translation
39 “Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40 Not in this translation
40 when they crouch in their dens, and lie in wait in the thicket?
41 Not in this translation
41 Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?
Cross references (37)
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
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)