He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud.
Parallel translations
- WEB He stirs up the sea with his power, and by his understanding he strikes through Rahab.
- BSB By His power He stirred the sea; by His understanding He shattered Rahab.
- 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 51:15But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name.
- Jer 31:35Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:
- Isa 51:9Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?
- Job 9:13If God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him.
- Ps 89:9–10Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.
- Job 12:13With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding.
- Ps 93:3–4The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves.
- Ps 74:13Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
- Exod 14:21–31And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
- Job 40:11–12Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him.
- Isa 2:12For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:
- Ps 29:10The LORD sitteth upon the flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever.
- Ps 114:2–7Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.
- Jas 4:6But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
- Dan 4:37Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.
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
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.