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Job · Revised Version with Apocrypha

Job 38 Revised Version with Apocrypha

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About RV
  • Protestant
  • OT: Masoretic Hebrew
  • NT: Critical text
  • Protestant, with the Apocrypha
  • Formal (word for word)
  • 1895
  • Public domain

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, 2 Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. 4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. 5 Who determined the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who stretched the line upon it? 6 Whereupon were the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; 7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 8 [Or who ]shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, [as if ]it had issued out of the womb; 9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it, 10 And prescribed for it my decree, and set bars and doors, 11 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed? 12 Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days [began, and ]caused the dayspring to know its place; 13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? 14 It is changed as clay under the seal; and [all things ]stand forth as a garment: 15 And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm is broken. 16 Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the recesses of the deep? 17 Have the gates of death been revealed unto thee? or hast thou seen the gates of the shadow of death? 18 Hast thou comprehended the breadth of the earth? declare, if thou knowest it all. 19 Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and as for darkness, where is the place thereof; 20 That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest discern the paths to the house thereof? 21 [Doubtless], thou knowest, for thou wast then born, and the number of thy days is great! 22 Hast thou entered the treasuries of the snow, or hast thou seen the treasuries of the hail, 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, or the east wind scattered upon the earth? 25 Who hath cleft a channel for the waterflood, or a way for the lightning of the thunder; 26 To cause it to rain on a land where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man; 27 To satisfy the waste and desolate [ground]; and to cause the tender grass to spring forth? 28 Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew? 29 Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? 30 The waters are hidden as [with ]stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. 31 Canst thou bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? 32 Canst thou lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season? or canst thou guide the Bear with her train? 33 Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens? canst thou establish the dominion thereof in the earth? 34 Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee? 35 Canst thou send forth lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are? 36 Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the mind? 37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom? or who can pour out the bottles of heaven, 38 When the dust runneth into a mass, and the clods cleave fast together? 39 Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lioness? or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, 40 When they couch in their dens, [and ]abide in the covert to lie in wait? 41 Who provideth for the raven his food, when his young ones cry unto God, [and ]wander for lack of meat?

Cross references (40)

Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.

  1. 1 Job 40:6; 2 Kings 2:11; Job 37:1–2; Exodus 19:16–19; 1 Kings 19:11
  2. 2 Job 42:3; Job 35:16; 1 Timothy 1:7; Job 34:35; Job 27:11
  3. 3 Job 40:7; Jeremiah 1:17; Exodus 12:11; 1 Kings 18:46; 1 Peter 1:13
  4. 4 Psalm 104:5; Hebrews 1:10; Proverbs 30:4; Hebrews 1:2; Psalm 102:25
  5. 5 Isaiah 40:12; Job 11:9; Zechariah 2:1–2; Proverbs 8:27; Isaiah 40:22
  6. 6 Job 26:7; Psalm 104:5; Psalm 93:1; Isaiah 28:16; 2 Peter 3:5
  7. 7 Revelation 5:11; Job 1:6; Ezra 3:11–12; Revelation 22:16; Revelation 2:28
  8. 8 Genesis 1:9; Proverbs 8:29; Jeremiah 5:22; Psalm 104:8–9; Psalm 33:7
  9. 9 Genesis 1:2
  10. 10 Jeremiah 5:22; Psalm 104:9; Psalm 33:7; Job 26:10; Genesis 1:9–10
  11. 11 Psalm 89:9; Proverbs 8:29; Psalm 65:6–7; Luke 8:32–33; Mark 4:39–41
  12. 12 Psalm 74:16; Psalm 148:3–5; Genesis 1:5; Job 8:9; Psalm 136:7–8
  13. 13 Psalm 104:35; Job 37:3; Exodus 14:27; Psalm 104:21–22; Job 24:13–17
  14. 14 Psalm 104:6; Psalm 104:2
  15. 15 Psalm 10:15; Psalm 37:17; Job 18:5; Proverbs 4:19; Ezekiel 30:22
  16. 16 Proverbs 8:24; Psalm 77:19; Job 26:5–6; Jeremiah 51:36
  17. 17 Psalm 9:13; Psalm 107:18; Job 3:5; Job 12:22; Psalm 107:14
  18. 18 Revelation 20:9; Psalm 89:11–12; Jeremiah 31:37; Isaiah 40:28; Job 28:24
  19. 19 Ezekiel 32:8; Matthew 27:45; Isaiah 45:7; Genesis 1:3–4; Amos 4:13
  20. 20 Job 26:10; Genesis 10:19; Genesis 23:17
  21. 21 Job 15:7; Job 38:4; Job 38:12
  22. 22 Job 37:6; Psalm 135:7; Psalm 33:7; Job 6:16
  23. 23 Joshua 10:11; Isaiah 30:30; Revelation 16:21; Exodus 9:18; Job 36:13
  24. 24 Job 38:12–13; Jonah 4:8; Matthew 24:27
  25. 25 Job 28:26; Psalm 29:3–10; Job 36:27–28; Job 37:3–6
  26. 26 Jeremiah 14:22; Psalm 107:35; Hebrews 6:7–8; Isaiah 35:1–2; Isaiah 43:19–20
  27. 27 Psalm 107:35; Psalm 104:14
  28. 28 Jeremiah 14:22; Psalm 147:8; Jeremiah 10:13; Proverbs 3:20; Deuteronomy 33:13
  29. 29 Psalm 147:16–17; Job 37:10; Job 6:16; Job 38:8
  30. 30 Job 37:10
  31. 31 Amos 5:8; Job 9:9
  32. 32 Job 38:31; 2 Kings 23:5; Job 9:9
  33. 33 Jeremiah 31:35–36; Genesis 8:22; Psalm 148:6; Job 38:12–13; Jeremiah 33:25
  34. 34 Job 22:11; Zechariah 10:1; James 5:18; Job 36:27–28; 1 Samuel 12:18
  35. 35 Job 36:32; Job 37:3; 2 Kings 1:14; Revelation 11:5–6; Numbers 16:35
  36. 36 Job 32:8; Psalm 51:6; Proverbs 2:6; Ecclesiastes 2:26; James 1:5
  37. 37 Psalm 147:4; Genesis 9:15; Genesis 8:1; Genesis 15:5
  38. 39 Psalm 104:21; Job 4:10–11; Psalm 34:10; Psalm 145:15–16
  39. 40 Job 37:8; Numbers 24:9; Numbers 23:24; Genesis 49:9
  40. 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).

  1. Quotes verse 38:28 Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures (Lecture IX)

    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)

  2. Quotes verse 38:1 Gregory of Nazianzus, Theological Orations (The First Theological Oration)

    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)

  3. Quotes verse 38:6 Basil of Caesarea, Hexaemeron (Homily I)

    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)

  4. Quotes verse 38:37 Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures (Lecture IX)

    … 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)

  5. Quotes verse 38:37 Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures (Lecture IX)

    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)