Job 26:10
in Job 26He has inscribed a horizon on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He hath described a boundary upon the face of the waters, Unto the confines of light and darkness.
KJV
He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.
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This verse in Job 26
Commentary
10 notes on this verseHe 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.
This site's exposition
inscribed a horizon on the face of the waters
on Job 26:10-11
"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.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church3 voices
So God has gathered the waters that were spread on earth at the beginning and has imposed a limit on them. His command has surrounded them like a circle, so that they might not exceed it. He has set a "boundary between light and darkness." …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XVII · Written before 604.
proposed
He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the light and darkness come to an end. Because very often in Holy Writ, as we said above, by the name of 'waters' peoples are denoted; the Lord compasseth the waters with bounds; because He so tempers the knowledge of mankind: that until the successions of the changing seasons pass away, it cannot perfectly attain to the knowledge of the Interior Brightness.
Then he shows the effect of divine power on the waters when he says, "He has circumscribed a limit on the waters"; for the waters according to the natural order of the elements should cover every place on the earth, but that some part of …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
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.
He hath compassed the waters with bounds,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
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.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
"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].
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
He hath compassed the waters with bounds - The word rendered “compassed” (חוּג chûg), means to describe a circle - to mark out with a compass; and the reference is to the form of the horizon, which appears as a circle, and which seems to be marked out with a compass. A similar idea Milton has beautifully expressed in his account of the creation: “Then staid the fervid wheels, and in his hand He took the golden compasses, prepared In God’s eternal store, to circumscribe This universe, and all created things: One foot he centered, and the other turned Round through the vast profundity obscure; And said, ‘Thus far extend thy bounds, This be thy just cirrumference, O world! ‘“ Paradise Lost, B. vii. In the passage before us, we have a statement of the ancient views of geography, and of the outer limits of the world. The earth was regarded as a circular plane, surrounded by waters, and those waters encompassed with perpetual night. This region of night - this outer limit of the world, was regarded as at the outer verge of the celestial hemisphere, and on this the concave of heaven seemed to rest. See Virgil, Geor. i. 247. Illie, ut perhibent, aut intempesta silet nox Semper, et obtenta densantur, nocte tenebrae; Aut redit a nobis Aurora, diemque redicited No maps are preserved constructed at so early an age as the time of Job; but maps have been constructed from the descriptions in Strabo, Herodotus, and others, which furnish illustrations of the prevailing views on the subject of geography in their times. The oldest geographical writer among the Romans is Mela, who lived in the reign of Claudius, and who died 54 a.d. In his work, De Situ Orbis, he gives a description of the world according to the prevailing views, and probably embodied the results of former investigations and discoveries. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
trembled when He created them, and He caused them to congeal. They were trembling, and He rebuked them, and they stood dry and strong.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| חֹֽק־ | chok- | a limit | H2706 → | 127 times |
| חָ֭ג | chag | he has drawn a circle | H2328 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| פְּנֵי־ | penei- | [the] surface of | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| מָ֑יִם | mayim | [the] waters | H4325 → | 581 times |
| עַד־ | ʾad- | to | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| תַּכְלִ֖ית | takhlit | [the] end of | H8503 → | 5 times |
| א֣וֹר | ʾor | light | H216 → | 121 times |
| עִם־ | ʾim- | with | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| חֹֽשֶׁךְ׃ | choshekh | darkness | H2822 → | 80 times |
חֹֽק־a limit
chok-H2706 →127 times
חָ֭גhe has drawn a circle
chagH2328 →
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
פְּנֵי־[the] surface of
penei-H6440 →2123 times
מָ֑יִם[the] waters
mayimH4325 →581 times
עַד־to
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
תַּכְלִ֖ית[the] end of
takhlitH8503 →5 times
א֣וֹרlight
ʾorH216 →121 times
עִם־with
ʾim-H5973 →1050 times
חֹֽשֶׁךְ׃darkness
choshekhH2822 →80 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 5:22Do you not fear Me?” declares the LORD. “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross? The waves…
it leads to
- Psalms 104:9
You set a boundary they cannot cross, that they may never again cover the earth.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 38:10–11
when I fixed its boundaries and set in place its bars and doors,
- Psalms 104:9
Through
Genesis 8:22As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall never cease.”
it leads to
- James 5:7
Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer awaits the precious fruit of the soil—how patient he is for the fall and spring rains.
- Jeremiah 5:24
They have not said in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rains, both autumn and spring, in season, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’
- Psalms 74:16–17
The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun.
- Jeremiah 31:35
Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day, who sets in order the moon and stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the…
- Song of Solomon 2:11–12
For now the winter is past; the rain is over and gone.
- James 5:7
Through
Psalms 33:7He piles up the waters of the sea; He puts the depths into storehouses.
it leads to
- Genesis 1:9–10
And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear.” And it was so.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Genesis 1:9–10
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVII; Ishodad of Merv, COMMENTARY ON JOB 26:10; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.