New English Translation
Job 38:5
5Who set its measurements – if you know – or who stretched a measuring line across it?
Job 38:5 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
- New International Version (NIV)Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?
- English Standard Version (ESV)Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?
- New King James Version (NKJV)Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?
Context of Job 38:5
3Get ready for a difficult task like a man; I will question you and you will inform me! 4“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you possess understanding! Who set its measurements – if you know – or who stretched a measuring line across it? 6On what were its bases set, or who laid its cornerstone – 7when the morning stars sang in chorus, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Read all of Job 38Job 38:5 word by word
מִי־שָׂ֣ם מְ֭מַדֶּיהָ כִּ֣י תֵדָ֑ע א֤וֹ מִֽי־נָטָ֖ה עָלֶ֣יהָ קָּֽו׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 38:5
- Job 11:9Its measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.
- Job 28:25When he made the force of the wind and measured the waters with a gauge.
- Proverbs 8:27When he established the heavens, I was there; when he marked out the horizon over the face of the deep,
- Isaiah 40:12Who has measured out the waters in the hollow of his hand, or carefully measured the sky, or carefully weighed the soil of the earth, or weighed the mountains in a balance, or the hills on scales?
- Psalms 19:4Yet its voice echoes throughout the earth; its words carry to the distant horizon. In the sky he has pitched a tent for the sun.
- Psalms 78:55He drove the nations out from before them; he assigned them their tribal allotments and allowed the tribes of Israel to settle down.
- Isaiah 34:11Owls and wild animals will live there, all kinds of wild birds will settle in it. The Lord will stretch out over her the measuring line of ruin and the plumb line of destruction.
- Zechariah 2:1(2:5) I looked again, and there was a man with a measuring line in his hand.
- 2 Corinthians 10:16so that we may preach the gospel in the regions that lie beyond you, and not boast of work already done in another person’s area.
Commentaries on Job 38:5
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 5Who hath laid the measures thereof - Who hath adjusted its polar and equatorial distances from the center? Who hath stretched the line - Who hath formed its zones and its great circles, and adjusted the whole of its magnitude and gravity to the orbit in which it was to move, as well as its distance from that great center about which it was to revolve? These questions show the difficulty of the subject; and that there was an unfathomable depth of counsel…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 5Who 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 Isaiah 28:17. The earth is represented as a building, the plan of…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 4-11Verses 4-11 For the humbling of Job, God here shows him his ignorance, even concerning the earth and the sea. As we cannot find fault with God's work, so we need not fear concerning it. The works of his providence, as well as the work of creation, never can be broken; and the work of redemption is no less firm, of which Christ himself is both the Foundation and the Corner-stone. The church stands as firm as the earth.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-41God challenges Job. Job admits he cannot judge the moral world. God shows Job's ignorance of the natural world's elements related to the realm of heaven, weather, animals, and birds (38:4–21; 22–38; 39–39:30).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 55. measures--of its proportions. Image from an architect's plans of a building. line--of measurement (Is 28:17). The earth is formed on an all-wise plan.Read the comment
Topics related to Job 38:5
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 38
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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