Job 38:5 BSB — MannaFest

Job 38:5

Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched a measuring line across it?

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

Who determined the measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who stretched the line upon it?

KJV

Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?

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Commentary

2 voices

Gregory the Dialogist

Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXVIII (604)

Who hath laid the measure of it, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION Lines of measures are stretched forth in the partition of lands, in order that fairness of dimension may be observed by their very extension. But the Lord, coming to the Church in the flesh, measured out the measures of the earth with lines, because He marked out the boundaries of the Church with the subtlety of His secret judgment.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

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

Who hath laid the measures thereof - That is, as an architect applies his measures when he rears a house. If thou knowest - Or rather, “for thou knowest.” The expression is wholly ironical, and is designed to rebuke Job’s pretensions of being able to explain the divine administration. Or who hath stretched the line upon it - As a carpenter uses a line to mark out his work; see the notes at Isa 28:

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

10 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
מִי־	mi-	who?	H4310 →
שָׂ֣ם	sam	did he appoint	H7760 →
מְ֭מַדֶּיהָ	Me.ma.dei.ha	measurements its	H4461 →
כִּ֣י	ki	for	H3588 →
תֵדָ֑ע	te.Da'	you know	H3045 →
א֤וֹ	'o	or	H176 →
מִֽי־	mi-	who?	H4310 →
נָטָ֖ה	na.Tah	did he stretch out	H5186 →
עָלֶ֣יהָ	'a.Lei.ha	on it	H5921 →
קָּֽו׃	Kav	a measuring-line	H6957 →

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
Isaiah 40:12
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or…
leads to
- Proverbs 30:4
  Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in His hands? Who has bound up the waters in His cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth?…
- Hebrews 1:10–12
  And: “In the beginning, O Lord, You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.
- Psalms 102:25–26
  In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.
- Job 38:4–11
  Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.
- Isaiah 48:13
  Surely My own hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they stand up together.
Through
Psalms 19:4
their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun.
leads to
- Romans 10:18
  But I ask, did they not hear? Indeed they did: “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”
Through
Proverbs 8:27
I was there when He established the heavens, when He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,
leads to
- Job 26:10
  He has inscribed a horizon on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.
- Isaiah 40:22
  He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; its dwellers are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

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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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The Star of Bethlehem — Edward Burne-Jones

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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

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Job