Job 38:24
in Job 38In which direction is the lightning dispersed, or the east wind scattered over the earth?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
By what way is the light parted, Or the east wind scattered upon the earth?
KJV
By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?
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This verse in Job 38
Commentary
11 notes on this verseBy what way is the light scattered? The heat is divided over the earth. For He in truth is the way, Who says, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The light is, therefore, scattered by this way, because all the Gentile world is enlightened by His presence. But He rightly said, Is scattered, because the light of preaching was not contracted or confined, but shone forth with its brightness far and wide by the voices of the Apostles.
This site's exposition
the storehouses of snow
on Job 38:22-24
God names the “storehouses of snow” and hail as held “in reserve for times of trouble, for the day of war and battle”. Barnes reads the military language deliberately, the snow and hail that fall as ordinary weather also standing ready as instruments of judgment.
This site's exposition
the east wind scattered over the earth
The Berean reads lightning where the older versions read light. Clarke took the line of the thunder cloud and the zigzag path of its flash. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown pair the light with the east wind, since both come from one quarter and often rise together, as at Jonah 4:8.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
After a storm of snow and hail ends, a calm follows in which warm and clear air is prepared, and so he says, "By what path does light scatter?" which expresses the clear air, "and heat is divided upon the earth," which expresses warm weather. …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Septem Donis, Collation 1 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
But by what way does grace descend into men? Job asks, saying: "By what way is light spread, and heat divided upon the earth?" I respond and say that grace descends upon rational minds through the Word incarnate, through the Word crucified, and through the …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
By what way is the light parted,.... That is, dost thou know by what way it is parted or divided? as at the first creation, when God divided the light from darkness, Gen 1:4; or at sun rising and sun setting; and so in the two hemispheres, when there is darkness on the one, and light on the other; or under the two poles, when there are interchangeably six months light and six months darkness.
Hence we read of the wings of the morning ( Ps. cxxxix. 9 ), on which the light is conveyed to the uttermost parts of the sea, and scattered like an east wind upon the earth. It is a marvellous change that passes over us every morning by the return of the light and every evening by the return of the darkness; but we expect them, and so they are no surprise nor uneasiness to us.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
By what way is the light parted - Who can accurately describe the cause and operation of a thunder cloud, the cause, nature, and mode of operation of the lightning itself? Is it a simple element or compound substance? What is its velocity? and why not conductible by every kind of substance, as it is known to exist in all, and, indeed, to be diffused through every portion of nature? How is it parted? How does it take its zigzag form? this is the curious, indescribable, and unknown parting. Are all the causes of positive and negative electricity found out?
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Light travels from the sun to the earth, ninety millions of miles, in eight minutes. which scattereth--rather, "And by what way the east wind (personified) spreads (scattereth) itself." The light and east wind are associated together, as both come from one quarter, and often arise together (Jon 4:8).
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.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
By what way is the light parted - The reference here is to the light of the morning, that seems to come from one point, and to spread itself at once over the whole earth. It seems to be collected in the east, or, as it were, condensed or concentrated there, and then to divide itself, and to expand over the face of the world. God here asks Job whether he could explain this, or show in what manner it was done. This was one of the subjects which might be supposed early to excite inquiry, and is one which can be as little explained now as then. The causes of the propagation of light, which seems to proceed from a center and to spread rapidly in every direction, are perhaps as little known now as they were in the time of Job. Philosophy has done little to explain this, and the mode in which light is made to travel in eight minutes from the sun to the earth - a distance of ninety million miles - and the manner in which it is “divided” or “parted” from that great center, and spread over the solar system, is as much of a real mystery as it was in the days of Job, and the question proposed here may be asked now with as much emphasis as it was then. Which scattereth the east wind upon the earth - According to this translation, the idea would be that somehow light is the cause of the east wind. But it may be doubted whether this is the true interpretation, and whether it is meant to be affirmed that light has any agency in causing the wind to blow. Herder renders it: “When doth the light divide itself, When the east wind streweth it upon the earth?” According to this, the idea would be that the light of the morning seemed to be borne along by the wind. […]
The words behind it
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֵי־ | ʾei- | where? | H335 → | 39 times |
| זֶ֣ה | zeh | this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| הַ֭דֶּרֶךְ | haderekh | [is] the way | H1870 → | 707 times |
| יֵחָ֣לֶק | yechalek | [where] it is divided | H2505 → | 65 times |
| א֑וֹר | ʾor | light | H216 → | 121 times |
| יָפֵ֖ץ | yafetz | [where] it scatters | H6327 → | 67 times |
| קָדִ֣ים | kadim | [the] east wind | H6921 → | 69 times |
| עֲלֵי־ | ʾalei- | over | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| אָֽרֶץ׃ | ʾaretz | [the] earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
אֵי־where?
ʾei-H335 →39 times
זֶ֣הthis
zehH2088 →1180 times
הַ֭דֶּרֶךְ[is] the way
haderekhH1870 →707 times
יֵחָ֣לֶק[where] it is divided
yechalekH2505 →65 times
א֑וֹרlight
ʾorH216 →121 times
יָפֵ֖ץ[where] it scatters
yafetzH6327 →67 times
קָדִ֣ים[the] east wind
kadimH6921 →69 times
עֲלֵי־over
ʾalei-H5921 →5755 times
אָֽרֶץ׃[the] earth
ʾaretzH776 →2504 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
Matthew 24:27For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
it leads to
- Luke 17:24–37
For just as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other, so will be the Son of Man in His day.
- Zechariah 9:14
Then the LORD will appear over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning. The Lord GOD will sound the ram’s horn and advance in the whirlwinds of the south.
- 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.
- Job 37:3
He unleashes His lightning beneath the whole sky and sends it to the ends of the earth.
- James 5:8
You, too, be patient and strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near.
- Luke 17:24–37
Through
Jonah 4:8As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint and wished to die, saying, “It is better for me…
it leads to
- Psalms 121:6
The sun will not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
- Jonah 4:3
And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
- Ezekiel 19:12
But it was uprooted in fury, cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branches were stripped off and they withered; the fire consumed them.
- Psalms 121:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
About Job
This page draws on 10 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); Bonaventure, Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 1; 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 (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.