Job 38:32
in Job 38Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear and her cubs?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Canst thou lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season? Or canst thou guide the Bear with her train?
KJV
Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
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This verse in Job 38
Commentary
12 notes on this verseDost thou bring forth the morning star at its time, and dost thou make the evening star to rise over the sons of earth? For the Father brought forth the morning star in his season, because, as it is written; When the fulness of the time was come, God sent His Son born of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem them that are under the Law.
This site's exposition
bind the chains of the Pleiades
on Job 38:31-33
“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion” names two constellations Job named among God's wonders. Verse 32 extends the survey to “the Bear and her cubs”. Delitzsch reads the questions as asking whether Job can govern their courses and seasons, beyond seeing them.
This site's exposition
the Bear and her cubs
The constellations here stand for Mazzaroth, a word Albert Barnes finds nowhere else in Scripture and which the Septuagint left untranslated. Jerome made it the morning star. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take the Bear as Ursa Major and her cubs as the three stars in its tail.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Third, the motion of the planets seems wonderful among the heavenly bodies. Although completely uniform, our senses perceive some irregularity in this motion. This can be especially observed in the star Venus, which sometimes rises before the sun and then is called Lucifer, the Morning …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
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.
Bring forth - Canst thou make the stars in the southern signs arise and appear? Arcturus - Those in the northern. His sons - The lesser stars, which are placed round about them; and attend upon them, as children upon their parents.
Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season?....
We are not only unconcerned in the government of the stars (the government they are under, and the government they are entrusted with, for they both rule and are ruled), but utterly unacquainted with it; we know not the ordinances of heaven,
4 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
Mazzaroth in his season? - This is generally understood to mean the signs of the zodiac. מזרות Mazzaroth, according to Parkhurst, comes from מזר mazar, to corrupt; and he supposes it to mean that pestilential wind in Arabia, called simoom, the season of which is the summer heats.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Arcturus--Ursa Major. his sons?--the three stars in his tail. Canst thou make them appear in the sky? The great and less Bear are called by the Arabs "Daughters of the Bier," the quadrangle being the bier, the three others the mourners.
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
Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? - Margin, “the twelve signs;” that is, the twelve signs of the zodiac. There has been much diversity of opinion about the meaning of this word. It occurs nowhere else in the Scriptures, and of course it is not easy to determine its signification. The Septuagint retains the word μαξσυρὠθ maxsurōth, without attempting to translate it. Jerome renders it, “Luciferum - Lucifer,” the morning-star. The Chaldee, מזליא שטרי - the constellations of the planets. Coverdale, “the morning-star;” and so Luther renders it. Rosenmuller, “signa celestia” - the celestial signs, and so Herder, Umbreit, Gesenius, and Noyes, “the zodiac.” Gesenius regards the word מזרה mazzârâh, as the same as מזלה mazzâlâh, properly “lodgings, inns;” and hence, the “lodgings” of the sun, or the places or “houses” in which he appears in the heavens, and thus as meaning the signs in the zodiac. Most of the Hebrew interpreters adopt this view, but it rests on no certain foundation, and as we are not certain as to the meaning of the word, the only safe way is to retain the original, as is done in our common version. I do not see how it is possible to determine its meaning with certainty, and probably it is to be regarded as a name given to some constellation or cluster of stars supposed to exert an influence over the seasons, or connected with some change in the seasons, which we cannot now accurately understand. Or canst thou guide Arcturus? - On the constellation “Arcturus” (עשׁ ‛ayish), see the notes at Job 9:9. The word rendered “guide” in the text, is in the margin “guide them.” The Hebrew is, “and עשׁ ‛ayish upon (or near - על ‛al) her sons, canst thou lead them?” Herder and Umbreit render it, “And lead forth the Bear with her young,” or her children. The reference is to the constellation Arcturus, or Ursa Major, in the northern sky. […]
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲתֹצִ֣יא | hatotzi' | ¿ will you lead out | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| מַזָּר֣וֹת | mazarot | [the] constellations | H4216 → | |
| בְּעִתּ֑וֹ | beito | at appropriate time its | H6256 → | 296 times |
| וְ֝עַ֗יִשׁ | veayish | and [the] Bear | H5906 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | with | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| בָּנֶ֥יהָ | baneiha | young ones its | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| תַנְחֵֽם׃ | tanchem | will you guide? them | H5148 → | 39 times |
הֲתֹצִ֣יא¿ will you lead out
hatotzi'H3318 →1067 times
מַזָּר֣וֹת[the] constellations
mazarotH4216 →
בְּעִתּ֑וֹat appropriate time its
beitoH6256 →296 times
וְ֝עַ֗יִשׁand [the] Bear
veayishH5906 →
עַל־with
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
בָּנֶ֥יהָyoung ones its
baneihaH1121 →4930 times
תַנְחֵֽם׃will you guide? them
tanchemH5148 →39 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 9:9He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, of the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
it 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…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 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.
- Job 38:31–41
Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion?
- Psalms 147:4
He determines the number of the stars; He calls them each by name.
- Psalms 104:13
He waters the mountains from His chambers; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of His works.
- Amos 5:8
Through
Job 38:31Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion?
it leads to
- Job 9:9
He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, of the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
- Job 9:9
Through
2 Kings 23:5Josiah also did away with the idolatrous priests ordained by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem—those who…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 44:17–19
Instead, we will do everything we vowed to do: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and offer drink offerings to her, just as we, our fathers, our kings, and our officials…
- 2 Kings 21:3–4
For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed, and he raised up altars for Baal. He made an Asherah pole, as King Ahab of Israel had done, and he worshiped…
- Jeremiah 44:17–19
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
What the record shows
2 entries◈Mazzaroth — the hapax in Job 38:32contested
Mazzaroth (H4216) is a hapax legomenon: it occurs once in all of Scripture, at Job 38:32.
The case against it
A lexical fact with no critique attached, and a boundary the page must hold: מַזָּרוֹת (H4216) occurs exactly once, at Job 38:32, which means its sense is established by context and cognate evidence rather than by usage across the canon. A hapax legomenon cannot bear the weight of a decoded system. Whatever the word denotes - constellations, the signs of the zodiac, or a specific asterism - the single occurrence licenses no reading of what those constellations were said to mean (Strong's H4216).
◈The gospel-in-the-stars thesiscontested
God — or, on most tellings, the patriarchs, with Seth and Enoch usually named — originally named the twelve zodiac constellations and their thirty-six decans to encode the plan of redemption, running from Virgo the virgin-born seed through to Leo the conquering Lion of Judah, and this primeval revelation was later corrupted into pagan astrology. The argument appeals to Job 38:32 ("Mazzaroth"), Genesis 1:14 ("for signs") and Psalm 19, and rests its weight on the etymologies of the transmitted star names.
The case against it
Refuted from inside young-earth creationism, which is what makes the critique decisive rather than merely hostile. Danny R. Faulkner holds a doctorate in astronomy and writes for Answers in Genesis: "Is There a Gospel in the Stars?", Journal of Creation 12(2):169-172 (1998), and "A Further Examination of the Gospel in the Stars," Answers Research Journal 6:285-300 (2013) — the second written after Rolleston's long-out-of-print book was republished, so that he could audit the source directly. His findings: Rolleston's star-name etymologies, which carry the entire argument, are questionable at best and most likely simply wrong, since most transmitted star names are medieval Arabic descriptive terms ("the follower," "the tail") rather than primeval Hebrew sermons; Seiss and Bullinger largely embellished Rolleston without independent verification and contradict both the standard sources and each other; and there is no ancient testimony of any kind — Jewish, Christian or pagan — that the zodiac ever carried this meaning. The documented origin of the zodiac is Babylonian, from the MUL.APIN-era catalogues, with meanings unrelated to Rolleston's. Faulkner adds a theological objection: faith comes by hearing the word of Christ (Romans 10:17), and the rulers of this age did not know the hidden wisdom (1 Corinthians 2:8), so redemption was not legibly pre-written in the constellations; the theory also lends cover to astrology, which Scripture condemns (Deuteronomy 18:9-14; Isaiah 47:13-14). His verdict is that however well-intentioned, the theory has serious problems and Christians should abandon it. What survives, and it is not small: the biblical star-texts themselves (Job 38:31-33, Psalm 19:1-6, Genesis 1:14) genuinely affirm that the heavens declare the glory of God. That is Tier A and preachable. The decoded zodiac is not.
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); 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); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.