Job 38:29
in Job 38From whose womb does the ice emerge? Who gives birth to the frost from heaven,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Out of whose womb came the ice? And the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?
KJV
Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?
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This verse in Job 38
Commentary
13 notes on this verseOut of whose womb came the ice?.... The parent of the rain and dew is the parent of the ice also, and he only; it is therefore called "his ice", his child, his offspring, Psa 147:17. Here the Lord is represented as a mother, and so he is by Orpheus (b) called "metropator", or "mother-father"; and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? this is of God, and by his breath; see Job 37:10. (b) Apud Clement. Stromat. l. 5. p. 608.
This site's exposition
Does the rain have a father
on Job 38:28-30
“Does the rain have a father” asks for a genealogy. Ice and frost are given a womb and a birth, as the sea was at verse 8. Clarke reads these figures for water in its three states as one argument that every form answers to a single unseen governor.
This site's exposition
From whose womb does the ice emerge
John Gill calls the ice God's own child and cites Psalm 147:17. Here, he writes, the Lord is pictured as a mother. Thomas Aquinas sets out the pairs behind the verse, frozen rain as snow and frozen dew as frost.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
God does not want to say that it comes out from his womb, God forbid! But then what do the words about "begetting" and "womb" mean in this context? As when the author said about the sea, "When its mother begot it," he did not mean that it has a mother; so here he does not mean that [ice] came forth [literally] from God's womb, but he wants to speak about its formation and origin.… Why then did he constantly use here the words about "begetting"? In my opinion he wants to allude to the One who is the first and only cause of everything and to the fact that creatures were shaped even before being completely perfected.
The Medieval Church2 voices
Consider here that just as rain, when frozen, is snow, so dew, when frozen, is frost, and so he says, "From whose womb did the ice come forth?" Here one should note that cold is the cause of ice and is a feminine quality, whereas …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XXIX · Written before 604.
proposed
Out of whose womb came the ice, and the frost from heaven, who hath gendered it? For what else do we understand by 'frost' or 'ice,' but the hearts of the Jews frozen and bound with the torpor of unbelief? Who formerly by the receiving of the Law, by the keeping of the commandments, by the ministry of sacrifice, by the mysteries of prophecy, were so kept within the bosom of grace, as if within the womb of the Creator.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
These are very common things, which lessens the strangeness of them. But, considering what a vast change is made by them in a very little time, how the waters are hid as with a stone, as with a grave-stone, laid upon them (so thick, so strong, is the ice that covers them), and the face even of the deep is sometimes frozen, we may well ask, " Out of whose womb came the ice?
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
The sense is, who was it that built this goodly fabrick, and established it so firmly that it cannot be moved. Stars - The angels, who may well be called morning-stars, because of their excellent lustre and glory. Sons of God - The angels called the sons of God, because they had their whole being from him, and because they were made partakers of his Divine and glorious image.
5 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
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.
Out of whose womb came the ice? - Ice is a solid, transparent, and brittle body, formed of water by means of cold. Some philosophers suppose that ice is only the re-establishment of water in its natural state; that the mere absence of fire is sufficient to account for this re-establishment; and that the fluidity of water is a real fusion, like that of metals exposed to the action of fire; and differing only in this, that a greater portion of fire is necessary to one than the other. Ice, therefore, is supposed to be the natural state of water; so that in its natural state water is solid, and becomes fluid only by the action of fire, as solid metallic bodies are brought into a state of fusion by the same means. Ice is lighter than water, its specific gravity being to that of water as eight to nine. This rarefaction of ice is supposed to be owing to the air-bubbles produced in water by freezing, and which, being considerably larger in proportion to the water frozen, render the body so much specifically lighter; hence ice always floats on water. The air-bubbles, during their production, acquire a great expansive power, so as to burst the containing vessels, be they ever so strong. See examples in the note on Job 37:10 (note). The hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? - Hoar-frost is the congelation of dew, in frosty mornings, on the grass. It consists of an assemblage of little crystals of ice, which are of various figures, according to the different disposition of the vapours when met and condensed by the cold. Its production is owing to some laws with which we are not yet acquainted. Of this subject, after the lapse and experience of between two and three thousand years, we know about as much as Job did. And the question, What hath engendered the hoar-frost of heaven! is, to this hour, nearly as inexplicable to us as it was to him! […]
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Out of whose womb came the ice? - That is, who has caused or produced it? The idea is, that it was not by any human agency, or in any known way by which living beings were propagated. And the hoary frost of heaven - Which seems to fall from heaven. The sense is, that it is caused wholly by God; see the notes at Job 37:10.
Modern Voices2 voices
The mechanical optimist endeavors to justify the universe avowedly upon the ground that it is a rational and consecutive pattern. He points out that the fine thing about the world is that it can all be explained. That is the one point, if I may …
The other great fact which, taken together with this one, makes the whole work religious instead of merely philosophical is that other great surprise which makes Job suddenly satisfied with the mere presentation of something impenetrable. Verbally speaking the enigmas of Jehovah seem darker and …
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מִבֶּ֣טֶן | mibeten | from [the] womb of | H990 → | 72 times |
| מִ֭י | mi | whom? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| יָצָ֣א | yatza' | does it come forth | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| הַקָּ֑רַח | hakarach | the ice | H7140 → | 7 times |
| וּכְפֹ֥ר | ukhefor | and [the] frost of | H3713 → | |
| שָׁ֝מַיִם | shamayim | heaven | H8064 → | 421 times |
| מִ֣י | mi | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| יְלָדֽוֹ׃ | yelado | does he give birth to it | H3205 → | 496 times |
מִבֶּ֣טֶןfrom [the] womb of
mibetenH990 →72 times
מִ֭יwhom?
miH4310 →423 times
יָצָ֣אdoes it come forth
yatza'H3318 →1067 times
הַקָּ֑רַחthe ice
hakarachH7140 →7 times
וּכְפֹ֥רand [the] frost of
ukheforH3713 →
שָׁ֝מַיִםheaven
shamayimH8064 →421 times
מִ֣יwho?
miH4310 →423 times
יְלָדֽוֹ׃does he give birth to it
yeladoH3205 →496 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 38:8Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,
it leads to
- Genesis 1:9
And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear.” And it was so.
- Proverbs 8:29
when He set a boundary for the sea, so that the waters would not surpass His command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth.
- Jeremiah 5:22
Do you not fear Me?” declares the LORD. “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross? The waves…
- Psalms 104:8–9
the mountains rose and the valleys sank to the place You assigned for them—
- Psalms 33:7
He piles up the waters of the sea; He puts the depths into storehouses.
- Genesis 1:9
Through
Job 37:10By the breath of God the ice is formed and the watery expanses are frozen.
it leads to
- Job 38:29–30
From whose womb does the ice emerge? Who gives birth to the frost from heaven,
- Psalms 147:16–18
He spreads the snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes;
- Psalms 78:47
He killed their vines with hailstones and their sycamore-figs with sleet.
- Job 38:29–30
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
About Job
This page draws on 11 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; GK Chesterton, Introduction to the Book of Job (1907); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXIX; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 38:28A-29A; 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.