A tiny wrapped figure on a low gray mound far off on a bare plain, a low wall of brown storm cloud just rising on the horizon, and a still, pale, yellowing sky above.

The Book of

Job 38

The LORD speaks at last. After thirty-five chapters of human voices, He has a few questions.

41 verses≈ 5 min1 personBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

Tap any post to go deeper

In this chapter

Where we are

1–3The testBlameless, stripped of everything, and his cry
4–14Round oneThe friends speak; Job answers
15–21Round twoMy Redeemer lives
22–31Round threeThen wisdom, and Job's last defense
32–37ElihuA younger voice
38–41The LORD speaksOut of the whirlwindChapter 38
42The endJob prays and is restored

The LORD Challenges Job

Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

God

A wall of wind and dust fills the sky over the plain, and a small wrapped man stands on the gray mound with his back to us, his cloak pulled tight by the wind.

“Who is this who obscures My counsel

by words without knowledge?

Now brace yourself like a man;

I will question you, and you shall inform Me.

God

Who enclosed the sea behind doors

when it burst forth from the womb,

when I made the clouds its garment

and thick darkness its blanket,

when I fixed its boundaries

and set in place its bars and doors,

and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther;

here your proud waves must stop’?

Reflect

This far

The LORD says He set the sea its limit. What feels unbounded to you this week? Write it down, and write who set its limit.

God

God

In your days, have you commanded the morning

or assigned the dawn its place,

that it might spread to the ends of the earth

and shake the wicked out of it?

God

God

The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;

its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.

Light is withheld from the wicked,

and their upraised arm is broken.

God

Looking down through dark blue ocean water, faint shafts of light fading into a black trench between steep rock walls.

Have you journeyed to the vents of the sea

or walked in the trenches of the deep?

Have the gates of death been revealed to you?

Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

Have you surveyed the extent of the earth?

Tell Me, if you know all this.

God

A flat desert horizon at sunset, the last bright sliver of sun to the left, darkness coming on the right, one small black tent far off between them, and a smooth sky above.

Where is the way to the home of light?

Do you know where darkness resides,

so you can lead it back to its border?

Do you know the paths to its home?

Surely you know, for you were already born!

And the number of your days is great!

0:14

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Question

Quick question

Job has waited a long time for this. Listen to what he has heard so far.

So far, what has the LORD told Job about why he suffered?

God

A rare heavy snowfall on bare red rock in high hills, a deep gully packed white, gray hail clouds moving in and wind blowing snow off the ridge.

Have you entered the storehouses of snow

or observed the storehouses of hail,

which I hold in reserve for times of trouble,

for the day of war and battle?

In which direction is the lightning dispersed,

or the east wind scattered over the earth?

God

God

Does the rain have a father?

Who has begotten the drops of dew?

From whose womb does the ice emerge?

Who gives birth to the frost from heaven,

when the waters become hard as stone

and the surface of the deep is frozen?

God

Does the rain have a father?

God

A clear moonless winter night over the desert, the Pleiades a small tight cluster high up, Orion's belt three stars in a row, one small black tent on a thin line of hills.

Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades

or loosen the belt of Orion?

Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons

or lead out the Bear and her cubs?

Do you know the laws of the heavens?

Can you set their dominion over the earth?

God

Can you command the clouds

so that a flood of water covers you?

Can you send the lightning bolts on their way?

Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?

God

God

Who has put wisdom in the heart

or given understanding to the mind?

Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?

Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens

when the dust hardens into a mass

and the clods of earth stick together?

God

God

Can you hunt the prey for a lioness

or satisfy the hunger of young lions

when they crouch in their dens

and lie in wait in the thicket?

God

God

Who provides food for the raven

when its young cry out to God

as they wander about for lack of food?

The tour Job never took

Whiteboard

Job asked for a hearing. The LORD takes him from the foundations of the earth to a raven’s nest, and asks him the whole way. Not one question is about Job’s suffering, and every one is about who is keeping the world.

Pray

The One who keeps it all

Praise the God who made and keeps what we never see. Be honestly silent before Him for a moment. Ask for trust when He does not explain. Thank Him that He feeds lions and young ravens, and so knows you.

You’ve experienced

Job 38

0 of 42 chapters read

A verse to carry with you

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.

Job 38:4

or swipe left