Ayub 38:1

VI. The Divine Speeches (38:1-42:6)

The Lord’s First Speech ¹ 

38:1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: ² 

Ayub 38:12

38:12 Have you ever in your life ³  commanded the morning,

or made the dawn know ⁴  its place,

Ayub 38:19-20

38:19 “In what direction ⁵  does light reside,

and darkness, where is its place,

38:20 that you may take them to their borders

and perceive the pathways to their homes? ⁶ 

Ayub 38:31-33

38:31 Can you tie the bands ⁷  of the Pleiades,

or release the cords of Orion?

38:32 Can you lead out

the constellations ⁸  in their seasons,

or guide the Bear with its cubs? ⁹ 

38:33 Do you know the laws of the heavens,

or can you set up their rule over the earth?

[38:1]  ¹ sn This is the culmination of it all, the revelation of the Lord to Job. Most interpreters see here the style and content of the author of the book, a return to the beginning of the book. Here the Lord speaks to Job and displays his sovereign power and glory. Job has lived through the suffering – without cursing God. He has held to his integrity, and nowhere regretted it. But he was unaware of the real reason for the suffering, and will remain unaware throughout these speeches. God intervenes to resolve the spiritual issues that surfaced. Job was not punished for sin. And Job’s suffering had not cut him off from God. In the end the point is that Job cannot have the knowledge to make the assessments he made. It is wiser to bow in submission and adoration of God than to try to judge him. The first speech of God has these sections: the challenge (38:1-3), the surpassing mysteries of earth and sky beyond Job’s understanding (4-38), and the mysteries of animal and bird life that surpassed his understanding (38:39–39:30).

[38:1]  ² sn This is not the storm described by Elihu – in fact, the Lord ignores Elihu. The storm is a common accompaniment for a theophany (see Ezek 1:4; Nah 1:3; Zech 9:14).

[38:12]  ³ tn The Hebrew idiom is “have you from your days?” It means “never in your life” (see 1 Sam 25:28; 1 Kgs 1:6).

[38:12]  ⁴ tn The verb is the Piel of יָדַע (yada’, “to know”) with a double accusative.

[38:19]  ⁵ tn The interrogative with דֶרֶךְ (derekh) means “in what road” or “in what direction.”

[38:20]  ⁶ tn The suffixes are singular (“that you may take it to its border…to its home”), referring to either the light or the darkness. Because either is referred to, the translation has employed plurals, since singulars would imply that only the second item, “darkness,” was the referent. Plurals are also employed by NAB and NIV.

[38:31]  ⁷ tn This word is found here and in 1 Sam 15:32. Dhorme suggests, with others, that there has been a metathesis (a reversal of consonants), and it is the same word found in Job 31:36 (“bind”). G. R. Driver takes it as “cluster” without changing the text (“Two astronomical passages in the Old Testament,” JTS 7 [1956] :3).

[38:32]  ⁸ tn The word מַזָּרוֹת (mazzarot) is taken by some to refer to the constellations (see 2 Kgs 23:5), and by others as connected to the word for “crown,” and so “corona.”

[38:32]  ⁹ sn See Job 9:9.