New King James Version
Job 38:5
5Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon 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 Living Translation (NLT)Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line?
Context of Job 38:5
3Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. 4“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, 7When the morning stars sang together, 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 11:9Their measure is longer than the earth And broader than the sea.
- Job 28:25To establish a weight for the wind, And apportion the waters by measure.
- Proverbs 8:27When He prepared the heavens, I was there, When He drew a circle on the face of the deep,
- Isaiah 40:12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, Measured heaven with a span And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales And the hills in a balance?
- Psalms 19:4Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun,
- Psalms 78:55He also drove out the nations before them, Allotted them an inheritance by survey, And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.
- Isaiah 34:11But the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it, Also the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. And He shall stretch out over it The line of confusion and the stones of emptiness.
- Zechariah 2:1Then I raised my eyes and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand.
- 2 Corinthians 10:16to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s sphere of accomplishment.
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
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries