Jobchapter 26
14 verses · unknown · 10th century BC · Wisdom and poetry
He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth upon nothing.
Introduction
unknown, Wisdom and poetry, Job Overview.
Job answers Bildad, and after this chapter the friends no longer reply. He begins with sharp irony about the help Bildad has given. Then he describes God's power over the place of the dead, the sky, the clouds and the sea. His hearers lived among nations whose poems told of gods fighting sea monsters at the beginning of the world. Listen for the places Job's description reaches, from below the earth to the edge of the sky. Listen then for how he measures all of it at the close.
Context
- Who
- Hearers who pictured the world as a disc under a dome above a watery deep
- What
- Job's reply to Bildad, a mocking of his help followed by a description of God's power over the dead, the heavens and the sea.
- Where
- The ash heap outside Job's town, with the whole created order in view.
- When
- The third round of speeches, Job's reply to Bildad's last speech.
- Why
- To show that Job knows God's greatness better than Bildad, and that such greatness is only the edge of God's ways.
Historical context
Job's opening is withering sarcasm: how hast thou helped him that is without power? how savest thou the arm that hath no strength? Then he does what Bildad tried to do, properly.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
He starts below. Sheol is naked before him, and Abaddon, the place of destruction, has no covering. The ancient world thought of the realm of the dead as the most hidden place there was; Job says it lies open.
Then the middle: 'he stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing'. Every neighbouring culture propped the world on something, a cosmic sea, a turtle, pillars, a god's shoulders. This line has the earth suspended over emptiness, and it stands out sharply against everything else written in that age. He goes on to describe water bound up in thick clouds without the cloud bursting, the face of God's throne covered, and a circle drawn on the face of the waters where light ends and darkness begins, the horizon at sea.
The 'pillars of heaven' that tremble are the mountains at the edge of the sky, which is how the range on a distant horizon looks. And when Job says God divides the sea by his power and smites through Rahab, and that his hand has formed the crooked serpent, he is using the sea-monster language his whole world used for chaos. He is not endorsing the old stories; he is saying that whatever monsters those stories feared, God handled them, and even this is only the outer fringe of his ways, a whisper of him, when the thunder of his power no one can understand.
Significance
Job beats his friends at their own game and then draws the opposite conclusion. Yes, God is unimaginably great, and that is precisely why a formula about the wicked suffering cannot contain him.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
Hearers came away with a picture of God's greatness they could repeat, and with the point that the greatness is a reason to trust him rather than a reason to close the case.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
This chapter has no place in the synagogue year. The site's own table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts printed parashot total 0 and haftarah uses total 0 for the book of Job, and no festival reading.
The corpus joins it to the study of the Torah portions through the Midrash arranged by them. Under the eighth verse it carries Midrash Tanchuma, Nasso 24:1.
How it is read
The corpus carries the English of two commentators on this chapter. Rashi is quoted from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, and Malbim from Malbim's Job, trans. Jeremy I. Pfeffer. Ktav, 2003. Sefaria reports both as CC-BY. Malbim frames the chapter as the seventeenth oration, Job's reply to the third speech of Bildad (Malbim on Job 26:1:1). He calls it Job's final address and divides it into three separate discourses (Malbim on Job 26:1:2).
Malbim sets out the argument. Bildad had said that God is kept from punishing the wicked because the constancy of Nature must be maintained. Job turns this back on him, since it shows that "in practice Nature and destiny determine everything" (Malbim on Job 26:2:1). Rashi hears Job asking Bildad who put into him the breath that came from his mouth, a thing everyone knows (Rashi on Job 26:4:1).
Rashi reads the fifth verse as Gehinnom, which weakens the creatures and has seven hollows (Rashi on Job 26:5:1, Rashi on Job 26:5:2). Sheol lies open before God, who knows and sees all within it (Rashi on Job 26:6:1). The notes printed in the Malbim entry report that he took the far north as the lower part of the sphere, left in chaos under the waters (Malbim on Job 26:7:1). They also report that he drew the word for the earth's suspension from a root meaning to restrain (Malbim on Job 26:7:1).
Rashi's notes on the next verses stay close to the words. The cloud never splits to let its rain fall all at once (Rashi on Job 26:8:1). God closes in the face of His throne of glory and spreads His cloud over it (Rashi on Job 26:9:1, Rashi on Job 26:9:2). The boundary of the tenth verse is a circle drawn as with a compass, which the sea keeps until light and dark end (Rashi on Job 26:10:1).
Two notes read the verses as creation. The pillars trembled when God made them, and at His rebuke they stood dry and strong (Rashi on Job 26:11:1). The waters wrinkled into many folds when God commanded them to gather, until they reached the place prepared for them (Rashi on Job 26:12:1). God made the heavens a tent with His words and the breath of His mouth (Rashi on Job 26:13:1). The last verse speaks of the outskirts of His ways, which Rashi glosses as "The easiest and the smallest in comparison to His other qualities" (Rashi on Job 26:14:1).
The corpus carries seven further notes on this chapter without an English text, each marked linked because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref. They stand cited by ref and unquoted. Three stand at Ibn Ezra on Job 26:2:1, 26:4:1 and 26:10:1. One stands at Malbim on Job 26:3:1. Two stand at Metzudat David on Job 26:3:1 and 26:6:1. One stands at Rashi on Job 26:7:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators on this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. On the first verse it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 12:4. On the fifth verse it holds Bereshit Rabbah 31:12, Midrash Lekach Tov, Genesis 6:18:1, Midrash Yelamdenu, Selections from Yalkut Talmud Torah 33:1, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 23:8 and Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 42:14. On the sixth verse it holds Avot DeRabbi Natan 12:5.
On the seventh verse it holds Chullin 89a:8, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Chullin 6:4, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Chullin 6:5, Ein Yaakov, Khullin 6:8 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Deuteronomy 33:27:1. On the eighth verse it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 12:11, Midrash Tanchuma, Nasso 24:1, Pesikta DeRav Kahana 1:4, Pesikta Rabbati 20:1 and Pesikta Rabbati 5:1. On the ninth verse it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Shabbat 9:15, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sukkah 1:1, Ein Yaakov, Shabbat 9:15 and Ein Yaakov, Sukkah 1:1. It also holds Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 19:20.
On the eleventh verse it holds Avot DeRabbi Natan, Recension B 43:13, Bereshit Rabbah 12:10, Bereshit Rabbah 4:7, Chagigah 12a:14 and Chagigah 12a:15. On the twelfth verse it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 18:22, Bava Batra 74b:9, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Bava Batra 5:21 and Ein Yaakov, Bava Batra 5:16. On the thirteenth verse it holds Bereshit Rabbah 4:2, Kohelet Rabbah 7:1:3, Midrash Shmuel 23:5 and Otzar Midrashim, Baraita of Samuel HaKatan 1:4. On the fourteenth verse it holds Bereshit Rabbah 12:1, Midrash Lekach Tov, Exodus 20:2:15, Otzar Midrashim, Midrashim on Missing and Extra Letters 1:38 and Shemot Rabbah 34:1. The corpus also anchors one locator past the fourteenth verse, which is the last verse of this chapter in the Berean Standard Bible count the site carries. Each is listed as the corpus prints it. The corpus sets Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Pesakhim 3:3 at Job 26:17. Sefaria numbers by the Hebrew text, and a locator here is checked against that numbering before it is quoted. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Malbim, Malbim on Job 26:1:1 to 26:7:1, Malbim's Job, trans. Jeremy I. Pfeffer. Ktav, 2003, reported CC-BY; Rashi, Rashi on Job 26:4:1 to 26:14:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Job 26:2:1, 26:4:1 and 26:10:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Malbim, Malbim on Job 26:3:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Job 26:3:1 and 26:6:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Rashi, Rashi on Job 26:7:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/job/26.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, printing no portion, no Haftarah and no festival reading for this book.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Job: How Hast Thou Helped Him That Is Without Power?
Job 26:1-4
Then Job answered: With open sarcasm Job tells Bildad, "How you have helped the powerless". The four questions make one charge, that Bildad brought no counsel and no strength to a man who needed both. Job then answers with a longer account of God's power than any of the three friends has given.
Job answers Bildad with irony. Barnes notes the dispute over who is meant by the powerless and the feeble arm: Job, the friends or God, whom Gill says many understand. Barnes refers the words to Job himself, whom Bildad claimed to have helped and saved.
Job 26:2
“But Job answered and said, Of whom art thou the helper? whether of one that is powerless? or dost thou sustain the arm of him that is not strong? Therefore because the words of his friends are concluded, blessed Job sets on with a more penetrating acuteness of the suing, and his words are proportionably strong as they are the last; seeing that even in the same way it is the usage of lawyers, that the argument, by which they beforehand see that they are above their adversaries, they reserve for the conclusion of the suit.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVIIpatristic
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Job 26:2
How hast thou helped him - This seems a species of irony. How wonderfully hast thou counselled the unskilful and strengthened the weak! Alas for you! ye could not give what ye did not possess! In this way the Chaldee understood these verses: “Why hast thou pretended to give succor, when thou art without strength? And save, while thy arm is weak? Why hast thou given counsel, when thou art without understanding? And supposest that thou hast shown the very essence of wisdom?”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
How you have counseled the unwise: The irony of verse 2 runs on. Henry hears Job mocking Bildad's own opinion that he had provided sound insight and set the matter out fully. Barnes adds that a man who counseled the unwise in grief owed him more than these words.
Job 26:3
“That he had done God no service by it, nor made him in the least beholden to him. It is indeed our duty, and will be our honour, to speak on God's behalf; but we must not think that he needs our service, or is indebted to us for it, nor will he accept it if it come from a spirit of contention and contradiction, and not from a sincere regard to God's glory.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
whose spirit spoke through you?: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hear Job asking whose spirit spoke through Bildad, and they find the words borrowed from Eliphaz at Job 4:17-19. Clarke calls the retort severe. Henry adds that a broken spirit needed God's mercy more than His power.
Job 26:4
“Whose spirit came from thee? - Mr. Good renders the verse thus: From whom hast thou pillaged speeches? And whose spirit hath issued forth from thee? The retort is peculiarly severe; and refers immediately to the proverbial sayings which in several of the preceding answers have been adduced against the irritated sufferer; for which see Job 8:11-19; 15:20-35, some of which he has already complained of, as in Job 12:3, and following.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Job 26:4
“Whom wouldest thou have taught? Was it not Him Who made the breathway? By the 'breathway' we live, by prudence we are wise. But it is ours first to live, and afterwards to be imbued with wisdom; because in order that we have the power to be wise, it is first brought to pass that we should have being. He, then, Who bestowed life, the same doubtless gave prudence as well.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVIIpatristic
Job: He Hangeth the Earth Upon Nothing
Job 26:5-6
The dead who tremble, "those beneath the waters", are the Hebrew rephaim, the shades of the underworld. "Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering". Gill reads the pair as Job's opening move in the account of creation, from the deepest place to the height of the heavens.
Job 26:5
“Lo, the giants groan under the waters. For it was fitting that by rebuking he should first beat down the swelling of earthly wisdom, and by instruction afterwards pass on to words replete with mysteries. Thus by 'giants,' either apostate Angels, or all proud men may without objection be understood. For hence it is said by the Prophet, The dead shall not live, the giants shall not rise up again. For whom does he call 'the dead' saving sinners, and whom does he designate 'giants' save those, who over and above take pride in sin.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVIIpatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Job 26:5
"Sheol" comes from a Hebrew root--"ask," because it is insatiable (Pr 27:20); or "ask as a loan to be returned," implying Sheol is but a temporary abode, previous to the resurrection; so for English Version "formed," the Septuagint and Chaldee translate; shall be born, or born again, implying the dead are to be given back from Sheol and born again into a new state [MAGEE].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Job 26:5
“16 , where hell is called the congregation of the dead; and it is the same word which is here used, and which he would there have rendered the congregation of the giants, in allusion to the drowning of the sinners of the old world.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Sheol is naked before God: From verse 5 Job's account of God's power starts in the depths. Barnes takes Sheol as the abode of the dead, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read Abaddon as the place of destruction, as at Revelation 9:11. Both lie open to God's eyes.
Job 26:6
“Hell is naked before him - Sheol, the place of the dead, or of separate spirits, is always in his view. And there is no covering to Abaddon - the place of the destroyer, where destruction reigns, and where those dwell who are eternally separated from God. The ancients thought that hell or Tartarus was a vast space in the center, or at the very bottom of the earth.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Job 26:6
“Hell is naked before Him, and destruction hath no covering. Which same Paul likewise saith, But all things are naked and opened unto His eyes. But by the title of 'hell' and 'perdition' he denoted the devil and all the associates of his condemnation; but Who that One is before whom 'hell is naked,' he goes on with telling.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVIIpatristic
Job 26:6
“That is hell and destruction, which are said to be before the Lord ( Prov. xv. 11 ), and here to be naked before him, to which it is probable there is an allusion, Rev. xiv. 10 , where sinners are to be tormented in the presence of the holy angels (who attended the Shechinah) and in the presence of the Lamb.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Job 26:7-9
He hangs the earth upon nothing: "He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth upon nothing" is the only place Scripture uses this phrase. The poem states it without pressing any modern cosmology. Delitzsch reads the empty space as the northern sky over a void, held up by God's will alone.
Job 26:7
“Its suspension in empty space is stated in the second clause. The north in particular is specified in the first, being believed to be the highest part of the earth (Isa 14:13). The northern hemisphere or vault of heaven is included; often compared to a stretched-out canopy (Ps 104:2).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
3 more voices on this verse
Job 26:7
“He stretcheth out the north over the empty place. [MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION] By the title of the 'north,' in Holy Writ the devil is used to be designated, who with the thought to bind up the hearts of the nations with the iciness of insensibility, said, I will sit also upon the mount of the Covenant, in the sides of the north. And he is 'stretched over the empty place,' because he has possession of those hearts, that are not filled with the grace of the love of God.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVIIpatristic
Job 26:7
“It is ponderibus librata suis--poised by its own weight, so says the poet; it is upheld by the word of God's power, so says the apostle. What is hung upon nothing may serve us to set our feet on, and bear the weight of our bodies, but it will never serve us to set our hearts on, nor bear the weight of our souls.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Job 26:7
“He stretcheth out the north - This whole passage is particularly interesting as giving a view of the cosmology which prevailed in those early times. Indeed, as has been already remarked, this poem, apart from every other consideration, is of great value for disclosing to us the prevailing views on the subject of astronomy, geography, and many of the arts, at a much earlier period than we have an account of them elsewhere. The word north here denotes the heavens as they appear to revolve around the pole, and which seem to be stretched out as a curtain.”
He wraps up the waters in His clouds: Barnes pictures the clouds holding the waters as in bottles, until God sends them down drop by drop upon the earth. The clouds carry that weight and hold. Clarke explains the same wonder by condensation and the winds.
Job 26:8
“He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds, that they should not burst forth alike beneath. For what does he call 'the waters' in this place but knowledge; what 'clouds' but the Preachers? For that in Holy Writ 'water' may sometimes be a term used for knowledge, we have been taught by Solomon bearing witness to it, who says, The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters, and the well-spring of wisdom as a flowing brook.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVIIpatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Job 26:8
“He bindeth up the waters - Drives the aqueous particles together, which were raised by evaporation, so that, being condensed, they form clouds which float in the atmosphere, till, meeting with strong currents of wind, or by the agency of the electric fluid, they are farther condensed; and then, becoming too heavy to be sustained in the air, fall down in the form of rain, when, in this poetic language, the cloud is rent under them.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
He covers the face of the full moon: The Berean reads full moon where older versions read throne. Barnes and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take the older reading, God spreading His cloud as a veil over His throne, as at Psalm 18:11. His hand works in the skies while His face stays covered.
Job 26:9
“He holdeth back the face of his throne - That is, he does not exhibit it - he covers it with clouds. The idea seems to be, that God sometimes comes forth and manifests himself to mankind, but that he comes encompassed with clouds, so that his throne cannot be seen. So in Psa 18:11, “He made darkness his secret place, his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.” God is often represented as encompassed with clouds, or as accompanied with tempests.”
1 more voice on this verse
Job 26:9
“He holdeth back the face of His Throne, and spreadeth His cloud upon it. [LITERAL INTERPRETATION] In the face there is wont to be shewn forth acquaintanceship. Thus 'the face of His Throne is held back,' in that by us in this life the gloriousness of His kingdom is not perceived, so great as it is had within; 'upon which the cloud' is rightly said 'to be stretched;' because that glory of the heavenly kingdom is not seen such as it is.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVIIpatristic
Job 26:10-11
inscribed a horizon on the face of the waters: "He has inscribed a horizon on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness" continues the picture. "The foundations of heaven quake, astounded at His rebuke" pictures the sky's supports shaking. Clarke takes these supports as the towering peaks that seem to hold up the horizon.
Job 26:10
“He hath compassed the waters with bounds - Perhaps this refers merely to the circle of the horizon, the line that terminates light and commences darkness, called here עד תכלית אור עם חשך ad tachlith or im chosech, “until the completion of light with darkness.” Or, if we take תכלית tachlith here to be the same with תכלת techeleth, Exo 25:4, and elsewhere, which we translate blue, it may mean that sombre sky-blue appearance of the horizon at the time of twilight, i.e., between light and darkness; the line where the one is terminating and the other commencing.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Job 26:10
“We see too the care which Providence takes of the poor sinful inhabitants of the earth, who, though obnoxious to his justice and lying at his mercy, are thus preserved from being overwhelmed, as they were once by the waters of a flood, and will continue to be so, because they are reserved unto fire.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Job 26:10
“When the light falls on our horizon, the other hemisphere is dark. UMBREIT and MAURER translate "He has most perfectly (literally, to perfection) drawn the bound (taken from the first clause) between light and darkness" (compare Ge 1:4, 6, 9): where the bounding of the light from darkness is similarly brought into proximity with the bounding of the waters.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
The foundations of heaven quake: Barnes and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take the foundations of heaven as the mountains that seem to hold up the skies. Clarke hears a poetic picture of thunder or an earthquake. Heaven and earth quake at His rebuke.
Job 26:11
“The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at His nod. [MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION] What else does he call 'the pillars of heaven' but the holy Angels, or the principal preachers of the Church, over whom in the heavenly world the whole structure of the spiritual edifice increasing arose, as Holy Scripture elsewhere bears witness, saying, Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVIIpatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Job 26:11
“The pillars of Heaven tremble - That is, the mountains, which seem to bear up the heavens. So, among the ancients. Mount Atlas was represented as one of the pillars of heaven.”
Job 26:12-13
By His power He stirred the sea: "His hand pierced the fleeing serpent" stands close to the wording of Isaiah 27:1 on Leviathan. Readers divide over whether the phrase names a creature of the deep or draws on the combat imagery Isaiah turns to judgment. Delitzsch and Barnes set out both readings without settling it.
Job 26:12
“He divideth the sea with his power - Here is a manifest allusion to the passage of the Red Sea by the Israelites, and the overthrow of Pharaoh and his host, according to the opinion of the most eminent critics. He smiteth through the proud - רהב Rahab, the very name by which Egypt is called Isa 51:9, and elsewhere. Calmet remarks: “This appears to refer only to the passage of the Red Sea, and the destruction of Pharaoh.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Job 26:12
“By his understanding he smiteth through Rahab; so the word is, and Rahab is often put for Egypt; as Ps. lxxxvii. If we consider hell beneath, though it is out of our sight, yet we may conceive the instances of God's power there.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Job 26:12
“In His might the seas are suddenly gathered together, and His wisdom hath struck the proud one. What else is denoted by the title of the sea save the present world, wherein the hearts of men seeking after earthly things swell with the diverse billows of the thoughts? which same being stirred up by the exaltation of pride, whilst with cross sway they thwart one another, do as with confronting waters dash themselves together. But henceforth 'the seas are gathered together in His might,' because on the Lord being made Incarnate, the discordant hearts of worldly men believe in agreement.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVIIpatristic
Job 26:12
“Perhaps at creation (Ge 1:9, 10). The parallel clause favors UMBREIT, "He stilleth." But the Hebrew means "He moves." Probably such a "moving" is meant as that at the assuaging of the flood by the wind which "God made to pass over" it (Ge 8:1; Ps 104:7). the proud--rather, "its pride," namely, of the sea (Job 9:13).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
His hand pierced the fleeing serpent: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, following Umbreit, read the verse in the sky: God's breath clears clouds, and His hand obscures the constellation of the dragon. Barnes takes the breath as God's own command. The serpent stands beside Rahab of verse 12.
Job 26:13
“UMBREIT less simply, "By His breath He maketh the heavens to revive": namely, His wind dissipates the clouds, which obscured the shining stars. And so the next clause in contrast, "His hand doth strangle," that is, obscures the north constellation, the dragon.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Job 26:13
“By his spirit - The word spirit here is either synonymous with wisdom, referring to the wisdom by which God made the heavens; or with breath - meaning, that he did it by his own command. There is no evidence that Job refers to the Third Person of the Trinity - the Holy Spirit - as being especially engaged in the work of creation. The word spirit is often used to denote one’s self; and the meaning here is, that God had done it. This was one of the exhibitions of his power and skill.”
these are but the fringes of His ways: The account of God's power closes by naming its limits. The line "how faint is the whisper we hear of Him" looks ahead to the whirlwind speeches. The last question, "Who then can understand the thunder of His power?", stands against the friends' confident accounts of providence through the debate.
Job 26:14
“Lo, these are parts of his ways - קצות ketsoth, the ends or extremities, the outlines, an indistinct sketch, of his eternal power and Godhead. How little a portion is heard - שמץ shemets, a mere whisper; admirably opposed, as Mr. Good has well observed, to רעם raam, the thunder, mentioned in the next clause. As the thunder is to a whisper, so are the tremendous and infinitely varied works of God to the faint outlines exhibited in the above discourse. Every reader will relish the dignity, propriety, and sense of these expressions.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Job 26:14
“Lo, these things have been spoken for part of His ways; and whilst we scarcely hear a little drop of His words, who shall be able to look on the thunder of His Majesty? What is meant in this place by the designation of the 'ways,' but the Lord's modes of acting? Hence too the Lord saith by the Prophet; For My ways are not as your ways.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVIIpatristic
Job 26:14
“It is but a little portion that we hear and know of God in our present state. He is infinite and incomprehensible; our understandings and capacities are weak and shallow, and the full discoveries of the divine glory are reserved for the future state.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Keep studying
Studies1
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and R. A. Watson, The Book of Job, Expositor's Bible.