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Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament

Job 38

Job 38: the Lord answers from the whirlwind with questions about creation

General context

The Lord answers Job out of the whirlwind. Who is this, he asks, that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? He tells Job to gird up his loins like a man, for he will demand and Job will answer. Where was Job when the Lord laid the foundations of the earth, set its measures and stretched the line, laid its corner stone when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Who shut up the sea with doors when it broke forth as from the womb, made the cloud its garment and thick darkness its swaddlingband, set bars and doors and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further? Has Job commanded the morning since his days, so that the wicked are shaken out of the earth and their light withheld? Has he entered the springs of the sea, seen the gates of death, perceived the breadth of the earth? Where is the way where light dwells and the place of darkness; does Job know it because he was then born? Has he entered the treasures of the snow and hail, reserved for the day of battle? Who divides a watercourse so that it rains on the wilderness where no man is, to make the tender herb spring? Has the rain a father; out of whose womb came the ice? Can Job bind the Pleiades, loose Orion, bring forth Mazzaroth, guide Arcturus, or set the ordinances of heaven in the earth? Can he lift his voice to the clouds or send lightnings that say, Here we are? Who put wisdom in the inward parts, who can number the clouds? Will Job hunt prey for the lion, and who provides for the raven when its young cry to God?

Cited passages: Job 38:1, Job 38:2, Job 38:3, Job 38:4, Job 38:5, Job 38:7, Job 38:8, Job 38:9, Job 38:11, Job 38:12, Job 38:13, Job 38:15, Job 38:16, Job 38:17, Job 38:19, Job 38:21, Job 38:22, Job 38:23, Job 38:26, Job 38:27, Job 38:28, Job 38:29, Job 38:31, Job 38:32, Job 38:33, Job 38:34, Job 38:35, Job 38:36, Job 38:37, Job 38:39, Job 38:41

Job 38 (KJV)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The speaker is the Lord, named as such in the heading, and the speech is addressed to Job, not to Elihu or the three friends. These are the Lord's first words since the scenes with Satan in the prologue, where he twice called Job "my servant" and said that Satan moved him against Job "without cause." The whirlwind is the setting the narrator gives; Elihu's last speech spoke of a whirlwind out of the south, but the text does not say the two are the same storm. The opening charge of "words without knowledge" repeats a phrase Elihu had used of Job, though here it comes from the Lord. "The sons of God" who shouted for joy are named with the same phrase used in the prologue for those who presented themselves before the Lord, and the chapter does not explain them further. Pleiades, Orion, Mazzaroth and Arcturus are the KJV's names for the star groups, with Mazzaroth left untranslated. The speech does not mention Job's losses, his disease, the friends' charges or the question of his guilt; it asks about the earth, sea, light, weather, stars and animals. The wicked are mentioned only in connection with the morning that shakes them out of the earth and withholds their light.

Cited passages: Job 38:1, Job 1:8, Job 2:3, Job 37:9, Job 38:2, Job 34:35, Job 38:7, Job 1:6, Job 38:32, Job 38:13, Job 38:15

Literary context

The whole chapter is questions, and their forms are repeated: Where wast thou, Who, Hast thou, Knowest thou, Canst thou. They move outward and downward and upward in turn: the earth's foundations, the sea, the morning, the springs of the sea and the gates of death, the dwelling of light, snow and hail, rain and ice, the constellations, clouds and lightning, and finally the lion and the raven, which carry on into the next chapter. Birth images run through it: the sea issues from the womb and is wrapped in a swaddlingband, the rain has a father, the ice comes out of a womb. The speech reverses Job's courtroom wish. Job had wanted to "order my cause" and "fill my mouth with arguments"; the Lord says "I will demand of thee, and answer thou me." The rain falls "where no man is," outside the human concerns the dialogue turned on. Where Job had described the morning as "the shadow of death" to the wicked who hide from it, the Lord describes the morning as what shakes the wicked out of the earth. The lightnings that answer "Here we are" contrast with Job's God who was not there in any direction.

Cited passages: Job 38:4, Job 38:16, Job 38:33, Job 38:8, Job 38:9, Job 38:28, Job 38:29, Job 23:4, Job 38:3, Job 38:26, Job 24:17, Job 38:13, Job 38:35, Job 23:8

Key moments

  1. Out of the whirlwind (Job 38:1). The Lord answers Job, speaking from the whirlwind.
  2. Gird up thy loins (Job 38:3). The Lord tells Job he will demand and Job must answer.
  3. Where wast thou? (Job 38:4). The Lord asks where Job was when the earth's foundations were laid.
  4. Morning stars sang (Job 38:7). The corner stone was laid while the morning stars sang and the sons of God shouted.
  5. The sea given bounds (Job 38:11). The Lord tells the sea how far it may come and where its waves stop.
  6. Rain where no man is (Job 38:26). The Lord sends rain on the wilderness where no person lives.
  7. Food for the raven (Job 38:41). The Lord asks who feeds the raven when its young cry to God.

For reflection

The Lord's first words to Job are questions about the foundations of the earth and rain on land where no man is. Job asked for a hearing about his own case. Is this an answer, and if so, to what?

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