Job 38:1
in Job 38Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Then Jehovah answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
KJV
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
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This verse in Job 38
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThen the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind,.... As soon as Elihu had done speaking, who saw the tempest rising, and gave hints of it, Job 37:2; and hastened to finish his discourse. This was raised to give notice of the Lord being about to appear, and to display his majesty, and to command reverence and attention. The Targum calls it the whirlwind of distress, as it might be to Job; and a representation of the distressed and disturbed state and condition in which he was.
This site's exposition
out of the whirlwind
on Job 38:1-3
The whirlwind speech opens with a question in place of an answer. “Now brace yourself like a man” calls up a wrestler or servant readying for work. Henry reads the commands as God granting Job's demand for a hearing on terms Job never expected: questions, where he wanted a verdict.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
In my opinion, he has placed at this stage a cloud over this righteous man in order to raise his thoughts and to persuade him that "that voice" came "from above," as [in the case] of the "mercy seat placed upon the ark of alliance." Since the cloud is a symbol of heaven, it is as if God wanted to place heaven itself over Job, as if he had moved his throne near him. This is what also happened, it seems to me, "on the mountain," when "the cloud" settled on it, so that we might learn that "the voice came from above." Let us listen carefully, because it is the common Master of the universe who speaks. Let us see how he exhorts Job. Does he do it with the same vehemence of humankind? Not at all. Now we find a very clear solution to all the previous, disquieting questions, dear friends, which Job asked and to which we have tried to find a solution.
The Medieval Church2 voices
After the discussion of Job and his friends about divine providence took place, Eliud had assumed to himself the office of determining the answer, contradicting Job in some things and his friends in others. But because human wisdom is not sufficient to understand the truth …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XXVIII · Written before 604.
proposed
But the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said. PREFACE After the loss of his goods, the death of his children, the wounds of his body, the words of his wife persuading him to evil, the insulting language of his comforters, and the darts of so many sorrows boldly received, blessed Job ought to have been praised by his Judge for such great power of constancy, if he had been now going to be called out of this present world.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Then the Lord answered Job - This speech is addressed particularly to Job, not only because he is the principal personage referred to in the book, but particularly because he had indulged in language of murmuring and complaint. God designed to bring him to a proper state of mind before he appeared openly for his vindication.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
This and the disciplinary design of trial to the godly is the great lesson of this book. He does not solve the difficulty by reference to future retribution: for this was not the immediate question; glimpses of that truth were already given in the fourteenth and nineteenth chapters, the full revelation of it being reserved for Gospel times.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind - It is not סופה suphah, as in the preceding chapter, Job 37:9; but סורה searah, which signifies something turbulent, tumultuous, or violently agitated; and here may signify what we call a tempest, and was intended to fill Job’s mind with solemnity, and an awful sense of the majesty of God. The Chaldee has, a whirlwind of grief, making the whole rather allegorical than real; impressing the scene on Job’s imagination.
Modern Voices2 voices
They had one of the colossal corner-stones of the world: the Book of Job. It obviously stands over against the Iliad and the Greek tragedies; and even more than they it was an early meeting and parting of poetry and philosophy in the morning of …
A commentator
GK ChestertonHeretics, Ch. 16: On Mr. McCabe and a Divine Frivolity (1905) (1905)
proposed
In short, Mr. McCabe is under the influence of a primary fallacy which I have found very common in men of the clerical type. Numbers of clergymen have from time to time reproached me for making jokes about religion; and they have almost always invoked …
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
from the tempest Heb. מן הסערה. Count your hairs and I will give you as many answers.
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
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיַּֽעַן־ | vaiyaan- | and he answered | H6030 → | 331 times |
| יְהוָ֣ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אִ֭יּוֹב | ʾiyov | Job | H347 → | 58 times |
| מִ֥ן׀ | min | from | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| הַסְּעָרָ֗ה | hasearah | the tempest | H5591 → | |
| וַיֹּאמַֽר׃ | vaiyomar | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
וַיַּֽעַן־and he answered
vaiyaan-H6030 →331 times
יְהוָ֣הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
אִ֭יּוֹבJob
ʾiyovH347 →58 times
מִ֥ן׀from
minH4480 →1188 times
הַסְּעָרָ֗הthe tempest
hasearahH5591 →
וַיֹּאמַֽר׃and he said
vaiyomarH559 →5305 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
1 Kings 19:11Then the LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD. Behold, the LORD is about to pass by.” And a great and mighty wind tore into the mountains and shattered…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 1:4
I looked and saw a whirlwind coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing back and forth and brilliant light all around it. In the center of the fire was a gleam…
- Psalms 50:3
Our God approaches and will not be silent! Consuming fire precedes Him, and a tempest rages around Him.
- Isaiah 30:30
And the LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard and His mighty arm to be revealed, striking in angry wrath with a flame of consuming fire, and with cloudburst, storm, and hailstones.
- Hebrews 12:26
At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth, but heaven as well.”
- Ezekiel 1:4
Through
2 Kings 2:11As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire with horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up into heaven in a whirlwind.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 6:17
Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw that the hills were full of horses and…
- Psalms 104:3–4
laying the beams of His chambers in the waters above, making the clouds His chariot, walking on the wings of the wind.
- Hebrews 1:14
Are not the angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?
- Psalms 68:17
The chariots of God are tens of thousands— thousands of thousands are they; the Lord is in His sanctuary as He was at Sinai.
- 2 Kings 6:17
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
About Job
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 11 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); GK Chesterton, The Everlasting Man, Ch. 4 (1925); GK Chesterton, Heretics, Ch. 16: On Mr. McCabe and a Divine Frivolity (1905); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXVIII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 38:1; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.