Job 37:8
in Job 37The wild animals enter their lairs; they settle down in their dens.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Then the beasts go into coverts, And remain in their dens.
KJV
Then the beasts go into dens, and remain in their places.
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This verse in Job 37
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Then the beasts go into dens - In the winter. This fact appears to have been early observed, that in the season of cold the wild animals withdrew into caves, and that many of them became torpid. This fact Elihu adverts to as an illustration of the wisdom and greatness of God. The proof of his superintending care was seen in the fact that they withdrew from the cold in which they would perish, and that provision is made for their continuance in life at a time when they cannot obtain the food by which they ordinarily subsist.
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
The wild animals enter their lairs
Albert Barnes notes that in the cold many wild animals lie still in their dens, needing no food while none can be found. He takes this as a sign of God's care. Matthew Henry sets the wild animals, who find their lairs by instinct, beside the tame ones men keep.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
That providence extends even to brute animals, who do different things according to different times by natural instinct, and so he says, "The beast will enter its lair," in rainy weather, "and will remain in its cave," for a fitting time.
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XXVII · Written before 604.
proposed
The beast will enter his covert, and will abide in his den. Who else is understood by the name of the beast, except our ancient enemy, who cruelly aimed at the deception of the first man, and mangled by his wicked advice the integrity of his life? against whom it is promised by the words of the Prophet, concerning the restoration of the Church of the Elect to its ancient condition, And no evil beast shall pass through it.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Then the beasts go into dens,.... When snow and rains are on the earth in great abundance, then the wild beasts of the field, not being able to prowl about, betake themselves to dens; where they lie in wait, lurking for any prey that may pass by, from whence they spring and seize it; and remain in their places; until the snow and rains are finished.
It is meant of the wild beasts, which, being wild, must seek a shelter for themselves, to which by instinct they are directed, while the tame beasts, which are serviceable to man, are housed and protected by his care, as Exod. ix.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
remain--rest in their lairs. It is beautifully ordered that during the cold, when they could not obtain food, many lie torpid, a state wherein they need no food. The desolation of the fields, at God's bidding, is poetically graphic.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַתָּבֹ֣א | vatavo' | and it went | H935 → | 2568 times |
| חַיָּ֣ה | chaiyah | an animal | H2416 → | 498 times |
| בְמוֹ־ | vemov- | in | H1119 → | 9 times |
| אָ֑רֶב | ʾarev | a lair | H695 → | |
| וּבִמְע֖וֹנֹתֶ֣יהָ | uvimonoteiha | and in dens its | H4585 → | |
| תִשְׁכֹּֽן׃ | tishkon | it dwells | H7931 → | 129 times |
וַתָּבֹ֣אand it went
vatavo'H935 →2568 times
חַיָּ֣הan animal
chaiyahH2416 →498 times
בְמוֹ־in
vemov-H1119 →9 times
אָ֑רֶבa lair
ʾarevH695 →
וּבִמְע֖וֹנֹתֶ֣יהָand in dens its
uvimonoteihaH4585 →
תִשְׁכֹּֽן׃it dwells
tishkonH7931 →129 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
6 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
Job 38:40when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait in the thicket?
it leads to
- Numbers 23:24
Behold, the people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion, not resting until they devour their prey and drink the blood of the slain.”
- Numbers 24:9
He crouches, he lies down like a lion; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him? Blessed are those who bless you and cursed are those who curse you.”
- Genesis 49:9
Judah is a young lion—my son, you return from the prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him?
- Numbers 23:24
Through
Psalms 104:22The sun rises, and they withdraw; they lie down in their dens.
it leads to
- Nahum 3:17
Your guards are like the swarming locust, and your scribes like clouds of locusts that settle on the walls on a cold day. When the sun rises, they fly away, and no one knows…
- Job 24:13–17
Then there are those who rebel against the light, not knowing its ways or staying on its paths.
- John 3:20
Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
- Nahum 3:17
About Job
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXVII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.