←Job 38→BSB

In This Chapter 1 person 17 terms

People

Job

Key Terms

Perceive 6 Understanding 4 Wisdom 4 Counsel 2 Decree 2 Appetite 2 Understanding (Awareness) Fixed Allowance Fixed Quota Ability (Skill) Ability (Power) World Universe Miracle Ability (Spiritual) Lordship Spiritually

The LORD Challenges Job

ⓘ the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind:...

the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind: The Old Testament often links storms with God's presence (2 Kings 2:1, 11; Ezekiel 1:4; Nahum 1:3). Job finally had the chance to speak with God (Job 13:22–23).
ⓘ God challenges Job. Job admits he cannot judge...

God challenges Job. Job admits he cannot judge the moral world. God shows Job's ignorance of the natural world's elements related to the realm of heaven, weather, animals, and birds (38:4–21; 22–38; 39–39:30).
ⓘ Then the LORD answered Job: In this last...

Then the LORD answered Job: In this last part, the LORD challenges Job's strong self-defense by showing his works. This reminds Job of God's supreme greatness.

1Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

2“Who is this who obscures My counselby words without knowledge?†3Now brace yourself† like a man;I will question you, and you shall inform Me.†4Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?Tell Me, if you have understanding.5Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know!Or who stretched a measuring line across it?6On what were its foundations set,or who laid its cornerstone,†7while the morning stars sang togetherand all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8Who enclosed the sea behind doorswhen it burst forth from the womb,9when I made the clouds its garmentand thick darkness its blanket,
ⓘ set in place its bars and doors: God...

set in place its bars and doors: God describes the sea as a dangerous creature that is kept under control.
10when I fixed its boundariesand set in place its bars and doors,11and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther;here your proud waves must stop’?
12In your days, have you commanded the morningor assigned the dawn its place,13that it might spread to the ends of the earthand shake the wicked out of it?14The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.15Light is withheld from the wicked,and their upraised arm is broken.
16Have you journeyed to the vents of the seaor walked in the trenches of the deep?17Have the gates of death been revealed to you?Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?18Have you surveyed the extent of the earth?Tell Me, if you know all this.
19Where is the way to the home of light?Do you know where darkness resides,20so you can lead it back to its border?Do you know the paths to its home?21Surely you know, for you were already born!And the number of your days is great!
ⓘ God stores up snow and hail, like the...

God stores up snow and hail, like the deep seas and winds (Psalms 33:7; 135:7; Jeremiah 10:13; 51:16). God uses these elements as weapons through storms he sends on the day of war and battle (Job 36:32; Isaiah 30:30; Ezekiel 13:11–13; Revelation 16:21; for example, Joshua 10:11; Judges 5:20–21; 1 Samuel 7:10.
22Have you entered the storehouses of snowor observed the storehouses of hail,23which I hold in reserve for times of trouble,for the day of war and battle?
ⓘ The east wind blows from the desert, drying...
24In which direction is the lightning dispersed,or the east wind scattered over the earth?
25Who cuts a channel for the floodor clears a path for the thunderbolt,26to bring rain on a barren land,on a desert where no man lives,27to satisfy the parched wastelandand make it sprout with tender grass?28Does the rain have a father?Who has begotten the drops of dew?29From whose womb does the ice emerge?Who gives birth to the frost from heaven,30when the waters become hard as stoneand the surface of the deep is frozen?
31Can you bind the chains of the Pleiadesor loosen the belt of Orion?32Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons†or lead out the Bear† and her cubs?33Do you know the laws of the heavens?Can you set their dominion over the earth?34Can you command the cloudsso that a flood of water covers you?35Can you send the lightning bolts on their way?Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
36Who has put wisdom in the heart†or given understanding to the mind?37Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens38when the dust hardens into a massand the clods of earth stick together?
39Can you hunt the prey for a lionessor satisfy the hunger of young lions40when they crouch in their densand lie in wait in the thicket?41Who provides food for the ravenwhen its young cry out to Godas they wander about for lack of food?