He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.
Parallel translations
- WEB He has described a boundary on the surface of the waters, and to the confines of light and darkness.
- BSB He has inscribed a horizon on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.
- NKJV He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters, At the boundary of light and darkness.
- NASB “He has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters At the boundary of light and darkness.
- NLT He created the horizon when he separated the waters; he set the boundary between day and night.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God set a boundary on the waters, dividing light from darkness. It matters because it shows God's ordering of creation's limits.
Overview
Job affirms that God inscribed a circle on the face of the waters, marking the border between light and darkness. He established the fixed limits that bring order out of chaos. This echoes the creation account where God separated light from darkness, the same ordering power that brings spiritual light in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Prov 8:29When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
- Job 38:8–11Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
- Jer 5:22Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?
- Ps 33:7He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.
- Isa 54:9–10For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.
- Ps 104:6–9Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains.
- Gen 8:22While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 26:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.