Job 38:27
in Job 38to satisfy the parched wasteland and make it sprout with tender grass?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
To satisfy the waste and desolate ground, And to cause the tender grass to spring forth?
KJV
To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?
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This verse in Job 38
Commentary
11 notes on this verseThat it should fill the pathless and desolate land, and should produce green herbs. For the Gentile world, to which a way was not open for the word of God, was a long while pathless. For on the coming of our Redeemer it so received the calling of grace, as that there had not been in it before the way of Prophecy. It is also rightly called desolate; namely, as being destitute of either the wisdom of counsel, or of the fruit of good works.
This site's exposition
Who cuts a channel for the flood
on Job 38:25-27
The rain falls “on a desert where no man lives”, unseen by human eye. Henry reads this as the chapter's clearest answer to any claim that God governs only for man's benefit. Gill takes the “tender grass” of an empty waste as providence for a hidden audience Job never considered.
This site's exposition
make it sprout with tender grass
Barnes pictures the parched wasteland as a thirsty traveler who cries to God and is satisfied. Clarke names the beasts, birds and insects of the desert that feed on the tender grass. Gregory read the wasteland as the Gentile world.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Because of this God ordered that the clouds and the rains be set in motion by the winds so that it might rain even in desert places, and so he says, "to rain on," with rains, "the steppes," that is the land which no man …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
God can make the earth fruitful without any art or pains of ours, Gen. ii. When there was not a man to till the ground, yet there went up a mist and watered it. But we cannot make it fruitful without God; it is he that gives the increase. [2.] Where there is no man to be provided for nor to take the benefit of the fruits that are produced.
To satisfy the desolate and waste ground,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
To satisfy the desolate and waste ground - As if it lifted an imploring voice to God, and he sent down the rain to satisfy it. The desert is thus like a thirsty pilgrim. It is parched, and thirsty, and sad, and it appeals to God, and he meets its needs, and satisfies it. Or to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth - In the desert. There God works alone. No man is there to cultivate the extended wilds, and yet an unseen agency is going forward.
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.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2583: “Rain and Grace—a Parallel” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
JOB was an admirable man, but the Lord meant to make him still better. The best of men are but men at the best and though Job was, in a certain sense, perfect, yet he was not perfectly perfect—there was a further stage beyond that which he had reached, otherwise he would not have been tried as he was. But because the Lord knew that there was something better for Job than he had already attained, he had to be subjected to extraordinary trial.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2583: “Rain and Grace—a Parallel” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
JOB was an admirable man, but the Lord meant to make him still better. The best of men are but men at the best and though Job was, in a certain sense, perfect, yet he was not perfectly perfect—there was a further stage beyond that which he had reached, otherwise he would not have been tried as he was. But because the Lord knew that there was something better for Job than he had already attained, he had to be subjected to extraordinary trial. He was such a valuable diamond that there had to be more cutting for him than for a common stone. He was made of such good metal that he paid for being put into the furnace—there would come out something still more pleasing to the great Refiner if He cast that which was so precious into the most fervent heat. Hence it was that Job was so greatly tried. Yet, after all his trials, it seemed as if he would miss their blessed result, for his three friends—the miserable comforters—appeared to be the meddlers in the whole design. By their cruel, cutting, sarcastic observations, they irritated Job so that it looked as if he would be harder instead of softer because of the fires. Sometimes, when a man knows that he is being unjustly and unfairly treated, he stiffens his back, hardens himself and influences which, by themselves, might have worked great tenderness of spirit, are spoiled because something else is thrown in. Job was in this condition and he, therefore, seemed to rise in his own estimation rather than to sink, as was desired, until, at last, the Lord ended the dispute by manifesting Himself. Out of the whirlwind He spoke to Job and bade him gird up his loins and meet his Maker if he dared. Then it was that Job was brought to his right position and, at the end, he said, "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear: but now my eyes see You.
To satisfy the desolate and waste - The thunder cloud not only explodes over inhabited countries, that the air may be purified and the rain sent down to fertilize the earth, but it is conducted over deserts where there is no human inhabitant; and this to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth: for there are beasts, fowls, and insects, that inhabit the desert and the wilderness, and must be nourished by the productions of the ground. Every tribe of animals was made by the hand of God, and even the lowest of them is supported by his kind providence.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לְהַשְׂבִּ֣יעַ | lehasbia' | to satisfy | H7646 → | 97 times |
| שֹׁ֭אָה | shoah | devastation | H7722 → | 13 times |
| וּמְשֹׁאָ֑ה | umeshoah | and desolation | H4875 → | |
| וּ֝לְהַצְמִ֗יחַ | ulehatzmiach | and to cause to sprout | H6779 → | 33 times |
| מֹ֣צָא | motza' | a going forth of | H4161 → | |
| דֶֽשֶׁא׃ | deshe' | vegetation | H1877 → |
לְהַשְׂבִּ֣יעַto satisfy
lehasbia'H7646 →97 times
שֹׁ֭אָהdevastation
shoahH7722 →13 times
וּמְשֹׁאָ֑הand desolation
umeshoahH4875 →
וּ֝לְהַצְמִ֗יחַand to cause to sprout
ulehatzmiachH6779 →33 times
מֹ֣צָאa going forth of
motza'H4161 →
דֶֽשֶׁא׃vegetation
deshe'H1877 →
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 107:35He turns a desert into pools of water and a dry land into flowing springs.
it leads to
- Psalms 114:8
who turned the rock into a pool, the flint into a fountain of water!
- Isaiah 35:6–7
Then the lame will leap like a deer and the mute tongue will shout for joy. For waters will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.
- Isaiah 41:17–19
The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
- Isaiah 44:3–5
For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and currents on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.
- Psalms 114:8
Through
Psalms 104:14He makes the grass grow for the livestock and provides crops for man to cultivate, bringing forth food from the earth:
it leads to
- Psalms 136:25
He gives food to every creature. His loving devotion endures forever.
- Psalms 147:8–9
who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow on the hills.
- Job 28:5
Food may come from the earth, but from below it is transformed as by fire.
- Psalms 145:15–16
The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in season.
- Psalms 136:25
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); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2583: “Rain and Grace—a Parallel” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); 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.