Job 38:14
in Job 38The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
It is changed as clay under the seal; And all things stand forth as a garment:
KJV
It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.
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This verse in Job 38
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThe seal shall be restored as clay, and shall stand as a garment. [ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION] What else but 'clay' did the Lord find the people of Israel, whom He came unto when given up to the practices of the Gentiles, and toiling at bricks in Egypt? And whilst He led it forth by so many miracles to the land of promise, and filled it, when brought thither, with the knowledge of His wisdom, whilst He conferred on it so many secret mysteries by means of Prophecy, what else did He make it but a 'seal' for preserving His mystery?
This site's exposition
have you commanded the morning
on Job 38:12-15
“In your days, have you commanded the morning” asks whether Job has set one day in motion. “The earth takes shape like clay under a seal” pictures the dawn stamping the world each day. Delitzsch reads “Light is withheld from the wicked” as the revealing daylight exposing what darkness covered.
This site's exposition
like clay under a seal
Barnes reports that Schultens counted twenty readings of this line. The Septuagint made it God taking clay of the earth to form a creature with speech, which Barnes calls far from the Hebrew. Clarke hears the sealing of clay, which he believed was common in the East.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
In an earthquake some things are usually uncovered, like walls and things of this kind, and he expresses this saying, "The seal will be opened like clay." For clay, when it is divided, easily returns to the same condition, and so also a seal, for …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
This is made a terror to evil-doers. Nothing is more comfortable to mankind than the light of the morning; it is pleasant to the eyes, it is serviceable to life and the business of it, and the favour of it is universally extended, for it takes hold of the ends of the earth (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The constant and regular succession of day and night was no contrivance of ours; it is the glory of God that it shows, and his handy work, not ours, Ps. xix. It is quite out of our power to alter this course: " Hast thou countermanded the morning since thy days?
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
It is turned as clay to the seal,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
It is turned as clay to the seal - The earth, like soft clay, is capable of modifying itself in endless ways, and assuming infinite forms. As a proof of this, see the astonishing variety of plants, flowers, and fruits, and the infinitely diversified hues, odours, tastes, consistency, and properties, of its vegetable productions. There seems to be an allusion here to the sealing of clay, which I believe has been, and is now, frequent in the East.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Passing from creation to phenomena in the existing inanimate world. Hast thou--as God daily does. commanded the morning--to rise. since thy days--since thou hast come into being. his place--It varies in its place of rising from day to day, and yet it has its place each day according to fixed laws.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
It is turned as clay to the seal - A great variety of interpretations has been given to this passage. Schultens enumerates no less than twenty, and of course it is not easy to determine the meaning. The Septuagint renders it, “Didst thou take clay of the earth, and form an animal, and place on the earth a creature endowed with speech?” Though this would agree well with the connection, yet it is a wide departure from the Hebrew. The reference is, undoubtedly, to some effect or impression produced upon the earth by the light of the morning, which bears a resemblance, in some respects, to the impression produced on clay by a seal. Probably the idea is, that the spreading light serves to render visible and prominent the forms of things, as the seal when impressed on clay produces certain figures. One form of a Babylonian seal was an engraved cylinder, fixed on an axle, with a handle in the manner of a garden roller, which produced the impression “by being rolled on the softened wax. Mr. Rich (Second Memoir on the Ruins of Babylon, p. 59) remarks, “The Babylonian cylinders are among the most interesting and remarkable of the antiques. They are from one to three inches in length; some are of stone, and others apparently of paste or composition of various kinds. Sculptures from several of these cylinders have been published in different works. Some of them have cuneiform writing,” (for the “arrow-headed” character, p. 48), “but it has the remarkable peculiarity that it is reversed, or written from right to left, every other kind of cuneiform writing being incontestably to be read from left to right. This can only be accounted for by supposing that they were intended to roll off impressions. The cylinders are said to be chiefly found in the ruins of Jabouiga. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
To grasp the corners of the earth Moreover, in all your days, did you command [anyone] to grasp the corners of the earth like a man who grasps the corners of a garment and shakes it?
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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| תִּ֭תְהַפֵּךְ | tithapekh | it is changed | H2015 → | 94 times |
| כְּחֹ֣מֶר | kechomer | like [the] clay of | H2563 → | 31 times |
| חוֹתָ֑ם | chotam | a seal | H2368 → | |
| וְ֝יִֽתְיַצְּב֗וּ | veyityatzevu | so they may stand forth | H3320 → | 48 times |
| כְּמ֣וֹ | kemo | like | H3644 → | 143 times |
| לְבֽוּשׁ׃ | levush | clothing | H3830 → | 33 times |
תִּ֭תְהַפֵּךְit is changed
tithapekhH2015 →94 times
כְּחֹ֣מֶרlike [the] clay of
kechomerH2563 →31 times
חוֹתָ֑םa seal
chotamH2368 →
וְ֝יִֽתְיַצְּב֗וּso they may stand forth
veyityatzevuH3320 →48 times
כְּמ֣וֹlike
kemoH3644 →143 times
לְבֽוּשׁ׃clothing
levushH3830 →33 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 104:2He wraps Himself in light as with a garment; He stretches out the heavens like a tent,
it leads to
- Isaiah 40:22
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; its dwellers are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
- Isaiah 45:12
It is I who made the earth and created man upon it. It was My hands that stretched out the heavens, and I ordained all their host.
- Daniel 7:9
As I continued to watch, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took His seat. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool.…
- 1 John 1:5
And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you: God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
- 1 Timothy 6:16
He alone is immortal and dwells in unapproachable light. No one has ever seen Him, nor can anyone see Him. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.
- Isaiah 40:22
Through
Psalms 104:6You covered it with the deep like a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
it leads to
- Genesis 7:19
Finally, the waters completely inundated the earth, so that all the high mountains under all the heavens were covered.
- 2 Peter 3:5
But they deliberately overlook the fact that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water,
- Genesis 1:2–10
Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
- Genesis 7:19
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
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); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXIX; 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.