Job 38:33
in Job 38Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens? Canst thou establish the dominion thereof in the earth?
KJV
Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?
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This verse in Job 38
Commentary
13 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? - The laws or statutes by which the motions of the heavenly bodies are governed. These were wholly unknown in the time of Job, and the discovery of some of those laws - for only a few of them are yet known - was reserved to be the glory of the modern system of astronomy. The suggestion of the great principles of the system gave immortality to the name Copernicus; and the discovery of those laws in modern times has conferred immortality on the names of Brahe, Kepler, and Newton.
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 laws of the heavens
John Wesley reads the laws of the heavens as the fixed order of the stars' motion and their influence on the world below. Their dominion over the earth names that influence. Albert Barnes notes that modern astronomy from Copernicus on has uncovered only a few of those laws.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church3 voices
Fourth, the order, placement, and movement in the heavenly bodies seems wonderful, and so he says, "Do you know the order of heaven?", which man cannot comprehend? Fifth, the disposition of the lower bodies in relation to the higher ones is wonderful, and expressing this …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XXIX · Written before 604.
proposed
Knowest thou the course of heaven, and wilt thou set down the reason thereof on the earth? To know the course of heaven, is to see the secret predestinations of the heavenly disposals. But to set down the reason thereof on the earth is to lay open before the hearts of men the causes of such secrets. To set down, namely, the reason of heaven on the earth, is either to examine the mysteries of the heavenly judgments, by consideration, or to make them manifest in words. Which certainly no one can do who is placed in this life.
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 2 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
In the order of hope, concerning what we should expect, there is anagogy, and this in two ways: one in the skies, as in this passage: "Abram, look at the heavens and, if you can, count the stars." And that means the heavenly intelligences. Again, …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), though they have their place in the heavens and are but mere matter, much more has he who is their Maker and ours, and who is an Eternal Mind. We cannot alter the influences of the stars (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
Ordinances - The laws which are firmly established concerning their order, motion, or rest, and their powerful influences upon this lower world. Didst thou give these laws?
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 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.
Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?....
So far are we from being able to change them that we can give no account of them; they are a secret to us. Shall we then pretend to know God's counsels, and the reasons of them?
The Nineteenth Century2 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.
Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? - Art thou a thorough astronomer? Art thou acquainted with all the laws of the planetary system? Canst thou account for the difference of their motions, and the influence by which they are retained and revolve in their orbits? And canst thou tell what influence or dominion they exercise on the earth? Sir Isaac Newton has given us much light on many of these things; but to his system, which is most probably the true one, gravity is essential; and yet what this gravity is he could neither explain nor comprehend; and his followers are not one whit wiser than he. No man has ever yet fully found out the ordinances of heaven, and the dominion thereof on the earth.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲ֭יָדַעְתָּ | hayada'ta | ¿ do you know | H3045 → | 945 times |
| חֻקּ֣וֹת | chukot | [the] statutes of | H2708 → | |
| שָׁמָ֑יִם | shamayim | [the] heavens | H8064 → | 421 times |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | or? | H518 → | 1069 times |
| תָּשִׂ֖ים | tasim | do you appoint | H7760 → | 584 times |
| מִשְׁטָר֣וֹ | mishtaro | rule its | H4896 → | |
| בָאָֽרֶץ׃ | vaaretz | over the earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
הֲ֭יָדַעְתָּ¿ do you know
hayada'taH3045 →945 times
חֻקּ֣וֹת[the] statutes of
chukotH2708 →
שָׁמָ֑יִם[the] heavens
shamayimH8064 →421 times
אִם־or?
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
תָּשִׂ֖יםdo you appoint
tasimH7760 →584 times
מִשְׁטָר֣וֹrule its
mishtaroH4896 →
בָאָֽרֶץ׃over the earth
vaaretzH776 →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
Genesis 8:22As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall never cease.”
it leads to
- Psalms 74:16–17
The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- James 5:7
Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer awaits the precious fruit of the soil—how patient he is for the fall and spring rains.
- Jeremiah 5:24
They have not said in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rains, both autumn and spring, in season, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’
- Jeremiah 31:35
Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day, who sets in order the moon and stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the…
- Song of Solomon 2:11–12
For now the winter is past; the rain is over and gone.
- Psalms 74:16–17
Through
Jeremiah 33:25This is what the LORD says: If I have not established My covenant with the day and the night and the fixed order of heaven and earth,
it leads to
- Jeremiah 31:35–36
Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day, who sets in order the moon and stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 33:20
“This is what the LORD says: If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that day and night cease to occupy their appointed time,
- Jeremiah 31:35–36
Through
Psalms 148:6He established them forever and ever; He issued a decree that will never pass away.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 33:25
This is what the LORD says: If I have not established My covenant with the day and the night and the fixed order of heaven and earth,
- Jeremiah 33:25
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); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 2; 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.