Job 38:31 BSB — MannaFest

Job 38:31

Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion?

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

Canst thou bind the cluster of the Pleiades, Or loose the bands of Orion?

KJV

Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?

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Commentary

1 voice

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)

Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades? - The seven stars. On the meaning of the word used here (כימה kı̂ymâh), see the notes at Job 9:9. In regard to the meaning of the word rendered “sweet influences,” there has been considerable variety of interpretation.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

Charles Spurgeon

1834–1892

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 818: “The Pleiades and Orion” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1868)

MOST of you know that singularly beautiful cluster of stars called the Pleiades—very small, but intensely bright. These are most conspicuous about the time of spring, and therefore, in poetry the vernal influences which quicken the earth and clothe it with the green grass and the many-colored flowers are connected with the Pleiades. By the sweet influences of the Pleiades we understand, then, in plain language, those benign influences which produce the spring and the summer. These, it is said, no man can restrain.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

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.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

But English Version agrees better with the Hebrew. The seven stars are closely "bound" together (see on Job 9:9). "Canst thou bind or loose the tie?" "Canst thou loose the bonds by which the constellation Orion (represented in the East as an impious giant chained to the sky) is held fast?" (See on Job 9:9).

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

7 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
הַֽ֭תְקַשֵּׁר	Hat.ka.sher	¿ will you bind on	H7194 →
מַעֲדַנּ֣וֹת	ma.'a.da.Not	[the] bonds of	H4575 →
כִּימָ֑ה	ki.Mah	Pleiades	H3598 →
אֽוֹ־	'ov-	or?	H176 →
מֹשְׁכ֖וֹת	mo.she.Khot	[the] chains of	H4189 →
כְּסִ֣יל	ke.Sil	Orion	H3685 →
תְּפַתֵּֽחַ׃	te.fa.Te.ach	will you loosen	H6605 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Amos 5:8
He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth—the LORD…
leads to
- Amos 4:13
  For behold, He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind and reveals His thoughts to man, who turns the dawn to darkness and strides on the heights of the earth—the LORD, the God…
- Job 9:9
  He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, of the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
- Amos 9:6
  He builds His upper rooms in the heavens and founds His vault upon the earth. He summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth. The LORD is…
- Amos 8:9
  And in that day, declares the Lord GOD, I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the daytime.
- Psalms 104:20
  You bring darkness, and it becomes night, when all the beasts of the forest prowl.
Through
Job 9:9
He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, of the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
leads to
- Amos 5:8
  He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth—the LORD…
- Job 38:31–41
  Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion?
- Genesis 1:16
  God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. And He made the stars as well.

Featured studies on this passage

On Job 38:31

Mazzaroth

Twelve constellation groupings; one biblical word (Job 38:32). Bullinger and Seiss read them as a gospel-arc; modern critics trace their figures to Albumazar, not Adam. The objections below are presented at full strength, and the founder's own slot on the page is his to fill.

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On Job 38:31

The Question of Suffering — Job 1–42

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The Star of Bethlehem — Edward Burne-Jones

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The Stars

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Walks through Job 38

Ezra's Questions God Answers

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About Job

Job Hears of His Misfortunes — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Job: the study guide →Read chapter 38 →The featured study →

Continue: Job 38 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Job

Where the connections lead

The record, by era

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Job