By His power He stirred the sea; by His understanding He shattered Rahab.
Parallel translations
- WEB He stirs up the sea with his power, and by his understanding he strikes through Rahab.
- KJV He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud.
- NKJV He stirs up the sea with His power, And by His understanding He breaks up the storm.
- NASB “With His power He quieted the sea, And by His understanding He shattered Rahab.
- NLT By his power the sea grew calm. By his skill he crushed the great sea monster.
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
By His power God stills the sea and shatters Rahab. It matters because it celebrates God's mastery over chaotic and hostile forces.
Overview
Job declares that God stirs and subdues the sea by His power and strikes through Rahab by His understanding. Rahab is a poetic name for a chaos monster or proud power, here utterly defeated by God. The conquest of the raging sea foreshadows Christ, who calmed the storm with a word, displaying the Creator's authority (Mark 4:39).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Isa 51:15For I am the LORD your God who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD of Hosts is His name.
- Jer 31:35Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day, who sets in order the moon and stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD of Hosts is His name:
- Isa 51:9Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced through the dragon?
- Job 9:13God does not restrain His anger; the helpers of Rahab cower beneath Him.
- Ps 89:9–10You rule the raging sea; when its waves mount up, You still them.
- Job 12:13Wisdom and strength belong to God; counsel and understanding are His.
- Ps 93:3–4The floodwaters have risen, O LORD; the rivers have raised their voice; the seas lift up their pounding waves.
- Ps 74:13You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea;
- Exod 14:21–31Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were divided,
- Job 40:11–12Unleash the fury of your wrath; look on every proud man and bring him low.
- Isa 2:12For the Day of the LORD of Hosts will come against all the proud and lofty, against all that is exalted—it will be humbled—
- Ps 29:10The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD is enthroned as King forever.
- Ps 114:2–7Judah became God’s sanctuary, and Israel His dominion.
- Jas 4:6But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- Dan 4:37Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, for all His works are true and all His ways are just. And He is able to humble those who walk in pride.
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 26:12 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
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