Job 38:21
in Job 38Surely you know, for you were already born! And the number of your days is great!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Doubtless, thou knowest, for thou wast then born, And the number of thy days is great!
KJV
Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great?
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This verse in Job 38
Commentary
9 notes on this verseDidst thou know then that thou wast about to be born, and didst thou know the number of thy days? As if He were openly saying, What wonder if thou understandest not thine end, since thou dost not comprehend thy beginning? And since thou knowest not with what beginning thou camest hither, what wonder, if thou canst not tell with what end thou art taken away? If therefore it was My work to bring thee forward from secresy to sight at thy beginning, it will be Mine also to bring thee back from sight to secresy.
This site's exposition
the way to the home of light
on Job 38:19-21
Verse 21 turns openly sarcastic, “Surely you know, for you were already born”, since Job's age is nothing beside the ages the question assumes. Henry reads the irony as the chapter's method throughout, each question answerable by God alone and put to the man who has demanded answers.
This site's exposition
for you were already born
Barnes allows two readings of the verse, a plain question or keen sarcasm. Clarke hears irony in rabbim, a word for multitudes. Gregory drew from it that a man who does not know his own beginning cannot know his end or the number of his days.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
The duration of the lower bodies and the times of generation and corruption are measured according to the motion of the heavenly bodies, as Dionysius says in Chapter IV of The Divine Names. Therefore, when one is ignorant of these causes, one consequently does not …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born?.... When light and darkness were first separated, and had their several apartments assigned them; their laws and rules given them, and their bounds and limits set them?
How they still keep their turns interchangeably. It is God that makes the outgoings of the morning and of the evening to rejoice ( Ps. lxv. 8 ); for it is his order, and no order of ours, that is executed by the outgoings of the morning light and the darkness of the night.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? - This may either be a question, or it may be spoken ironically. According to the former mode of rendering it, it is the same as asking Job whether he had lived long enough to understand where the abode of light was, or whether he had an existence when it was created, and knew where its home was appointed. According to the latter mode, it is keen sarcasm. “Thou must know all this, for thou art so old.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
"What is the way (to the place wherein) light dwelleth?" The origin of light and darkness. In Ge 1:3-5, 14-18, "light" is created distinct from, and previous to, light-emitting bodies, the luminaries of heaven.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Knowest thou - This is another strong and biting irony, and the literal translation proves it: “Thou knowest, because thou was then born; and the number of thy days is great,” or multitudinous, רבים rabbim, multitudes.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יָ֭דַעְתָּ | yada'ta | you know | H3045 → | 945 times |
| כִּי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אָ֣ז | ʾaz | then | H227 → | 141 times |
| תִּוָּלֵ֑ד | tivaled | you were born | H3205 → | 496 times |
| וּמִסְפַּ֖ר | umispar | and [the] number of | H4557 → | 134 times |
| יָמֶ֣יךָ | yameikha | days your | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| רַבִּֽים׃ | rabim | [is] many | H7227 → | 454 times |
יָ֭דַעְתָּyou know
yada'taH3045 →945 times
כִּי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
אָ֣זthen
ʾazH227 →141 times
תִּוָּלֵ֑דyou were born
tivaledH3205 →496 times
וּמִסְפַּ֖רand [the] number of
umisparH4557 →134 times
יָמֶ֣יךָdays your
yameikhaH3117 →2304 times
רַבִּֽים׃[is] many
rabimH7227 →454 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
Job 38:4Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.
it leads to
- Psalms 104:5
He set the earth on its foundations, never to be moved.
- Hebrews 1:10
And: “In the beginning, O Lord, You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.
- Proverbs 30:4
Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in His hands? Who has bound up the waters in His cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth?…
- Psalms 104:5
Through
Job 38:12In your days, have you commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place,
it leads to
- Psalms 74:16
The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun.
- Psalms 148:3–5
Praise Him, O sun and moon; praise Him, all you shining stars.
- Genesis 1:5
God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
- Job 8:9
For we were born yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow.
- Psalms 74:16
Through
Job 15:7Were you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills?
it leads to
- Psalms 90:2
Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.
- Psalms 90:2
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
About Job
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 XXIX; 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.