He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters, At the boundary of light and darkness.
Parallel translations
- WEB He has described a boundary on the surface of the waters, and to the confines of light and darkness.
- KJV He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.
- BSB He has inscribed a horizon on the face of the waters at the boundary between 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 its boundary, that the waters should not violate his commandment, when he marked out the foundations of the earth;
- Job 38:8–11“Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke out of the womb,
- Jer 5:22Don’t you fear me?’ says Yahweh ‘Won’t you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass it? and though its waves toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail; though they roar, yet they can’t pass over it.’
- Ps 33:7He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap. He lays up the deeps in storehouses.
- Isa 54:9–10“For this is like the waters of Noah to me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah will no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.
- Ps 104:6–9You covered it with the deep as with a cloak. The waters stood above the mountains.
- Gen 8:22While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night will 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.