Job 37:7
in Job 37He seals up the hand of every man, so that all men may know His work.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He sealeth up the hand of every man, That all men whom he hath made may know it.
KJV
He sealeth up the hand of every man; that all men may know his work.
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This verse in Job 37
Commentary
13 notes on this verseWho sealeth the hand of all men, that every one may know his works. For men scorn to think of the sins they commit. But when they hear the power of heavenly severity, they discern this burden of misdeeds which weighs them down. For being roused by the words of preaching, they keep on the watch, in order to consider to what punishments the merit of their former doings is leading them.
This site's exposition
He says to the snow
on Job 37:6-13
Snow, rain, ice and wind come under one command: “He says to the snow”, and “By the breath of God the ice is formed”. Gill reads “He seals up the hand of every man” as winter halting labor by God's decree, “so that all men may know His work”.
This site's exposition
seals up the hand of every man
Charles Spurgeon preached this verse as a winter sermon. When men cannot do their own work, they are meant to look at the work of God. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown add that man's work at other times makes him forget his need of God.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
This is the reason, he says, for the grandiosity of his creations, the reason for the cold and the heat, the reason for the irregularity of the winds. Was it impossible to produce a harmonious blend? [If God did not do that], it is because he wants to prevent by any means the pride and arrogance of thought. It is "so that everyone may know his own weakness." "Who can resist," Scripture says, "before his cold?" The entire universe has been created for this purpose, and everything exists for it. Since [pride] first of all drove away from us our trust in God, for this reason God has organized everything in view of its contrary, either the creation, or the fashioning of our body or the course of our life, so that all this exists for humility in order that we may learn to act with moderation and recognize our own weakness.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Since everything which happens in lower things is somehow or other ordered to man, he says, "he has put signs on the hand of every man that they might each know his works." For different dispositions of the air correspond to the different works of …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Sealeth - By these snows and rains he drives men out of the fields, and seals or binds up their hands from their work. That - They may seriously contemplate on these, and other great and glorious works of God.
He sealeth up the hand of every man,.... That is, by deep snows and heavy rains being on the earth; where, as travellers are stopped in their journeys, and cannot proceed, so various artificers are hindered from their work, and husbandmen especially from their employment in the fields; so that their hands are as it were shut up and sealed, that they cannot work with them.
The plough is laid by, the shipping laid up, nothing is to be done, nothing to be got, that men, being taken off from their own work, may know his work, and contemplate that, and give him the glory of that, and, by the consideration of that work of his in the weather which seals up their hands, be led to celebrate his other great and marvellous works.
5 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century5 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
He sealeth up the hand of every man - That is, in the winter, when the snow is on the ground, when the streams are frozen, and when the labors of the husbandman cease. The idea of “sealing up the hand” is derived from the common purpose of a seal, to make fast, to close up, to secure (compare Job 9:7, note; Job 33:16, note), and the sense is, that the hands can no more be used in ordinary toil.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3289: “The Sealed Hand—a Winter Sermon” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
When the Lord seals up a man's hand, he is unable to perform his labor. The Lord has an objective in this, namely, "that all men may know His work." When they cannot do their own work, they are intended to observe the works of God. This is a fact which I fear many of us have never noticed. When the ground is hardened into iron by the frost. When the land lies deep beneath the snow. When the ox rests in the stall and the servants warm their hands at the fire, then the farmer's hand is sealed up.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
In winter God stops man's out-of-doors activity. sealeth--closeth up (Job 9:7). Man's "hands" are then tied up. his work--in antithesis to man's own work ("hand") which at other times engages men so as to make them liable to forget their dependence on God.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3289: “The Sealed Hand—a Winter Sermon” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
When the Lord seals up a man's hand, he is unable to perform his labor. The Lord has an objective in this, namely, "that all men may know His work." When they cannot do their own work, they are intended to observe the works of God. This is a fact which I fear many of us have never noticed. When the ground is hardened into iron by the frost. When the land lies deep beneath the snow. When the ox rests in the stall and the servants warm their hands at the fire, then the farmer's hand is sealed up. But I fear the Divine Purpose is not often heeded. As you look through the frosted pane upon the driving snow, do you say to yourself, "God has taken me off from my own work and given me a holiday which He would have me turn into a holy day—let me now turn my thoughts to the Lord's great works in Nature, Providence and Grace. Shut out from my calling, I am also shut in to think of my God and of His work"? To the most of us, it happens that at sundry times we are set aside from our ordinary service—and it is well if we improve the hour. One is never absent from his desk. Another is regularly behind the counter. A third is always diligent in his travelling but, sooner or later, there comes a day of pain and weakness—when the usual course of life is interrupted and the busiest man lies still. In the sickbed for weeks and months, God seals up the active hand, and thus He presents to the busy a quiet season for reflection! In France, they call the hospital, "the House of God," and it is well when it becomes so. The man who will not think of God if he can help it, while he is busy in the world, is, by sickness blessed with time for consideration and, being set aside from turmoil, he is invited to rise above his engrossing cares! The Great Father seems to say, "Lie there alone. Lie awake through the night-watches and think of your past ways and what they lead to.
He sealeth up the hand of every man - After all that has been said, and much of it most learnedly, on this verse, I think that the act of freezing is probably intended; that when the earth is bound up by intense frost, the hand, יד yad, labor, of every man is sealed up; he can do no more labor in the field, till the south wind blow, by which a thaw takes place. While the earth is in this state of rigidity, the beasts go into their dens, and remain in their places, Job 37:8, some of them sleeping out the winter in a state of torpor, and others of them feeding on the stores which they had collected in autumn. However, the passage may mean no more than by the severity of the rains beasts are drawn to their covers; and man is obliged to intermit all his labors. The mighty rains are past. Who would have thought that on this verse, as its Scriptural foundation, the doctrine of chiromancy is built! God has so marked the hand of every man by the lines thereon exhibited, that they tell all the good or bad fortune they shall have during life; and he has done this that all men, by a judicious examination of their hands, may know his work! On this John Taisnier, a famous mathematician, lawyer, musician, and poet laureate of Cologne, has written a large folio volume, with more hands in it than fell to the lot of Briareus: - printed at Cologne, 1683.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּיַד־ | beyad- | on [the] hand of | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| אָדָ֥ם | ʾadam | person | H120 → | 551 times |
| יַחְתּ֑וֹם | yachtom | he puts a seal | H2856 → | 26 times |
| לָ֝דַ֗עַת | ladaat | to know | H3045 → | 945 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| אַנְשֵׁ֥י | ʾanshei | [the] people of | H582 → | 566 times |
| מַעֲשֵֽׂהוּ׃ | maasehu | work his | H4639 → | 236 times |
בְּיַד־on [the] hand of
beyad-H3027 →1618 times
כָּל־every
kol-H3605 →5413 times
אָדָ֥םperson
ʾadamH120 →551 times
יַחְתּ֑וֹםhe puts a seal
yachtomH2856 →26 times
לָ֝דַ֗עַתto know
ladaatH3045 →945 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
אַנְשֵׁ֥י[the] people of
ʾansheiH582 →566 times
מַעֲשֵֽׂהוּ׃work his
maasehuH4639 →236 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
Psalms 111:2Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them.
it leads to
- Psalms 104:24
How many are Your works, O LORD! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures.
- Proverbs 24:14
Know therefore that wisdom is sweet to your soul. If you find it, there is a future for you, and your hope will never be cut off.
- Psalms 104:24
Through
Psalms 46:8Come, see the works of the LORD, who brings devastation upon the earth.
it leads to
- Psalms 66:5
Come and see the works of God; how awesome are His deeds toward mankind.
- Psalms 66:5
Through
Psalms 109:27Let them know that this is Your hand, that You, O LORD, have done it.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 18:36–37
At the time of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet approached the altar and said, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in…
- Exodus 8:19
“This is the finger of God,” the magicians said to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.
- 1 Samuel 17:46–47
This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand. This day I will strike you down, cut off your head, and give the carcasses of the Philistines to the birds of the air…
- 1 Kings 18:36–37
Through
Psalms 92:4For You, O LORD, have made me glad by Your deeds; I sing for joy at the works of Your hands.
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 2:14
But thanks be to God, who always leads us triumphantly as captives in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.
- Psalms 8:6
You made him ruler of the works of Your hands; You have placed everything under his feet:
- 2 Corinthians 2:14
About Job
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3289: “The Sealed Hand—a Winter Sermon” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXVII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 37:7B; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; 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.