By His breath the skies were cleared; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
Parallel translations
- WEB By his Spirit the heavens are garnished. His hand has pierced the swift serpent.
- KJV By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.
- NKJV By His Spirit He adorned the heavens; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
- NASB “By His breath the heavens are cleared; His hand has pierced the fleeing serpent.
- NLT His Spirit made the heavens beautiful, and his power pierced the gliding serpent.
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 Spirit God adorns the heavens and pierces the fleeing serpent. It matters because it celebrates God's beautifying and conquering work.
Overview
Job affirms that God's breath garnishes the skies and His hand slays the gliding serpent, another image of chaotic evil. God both adorns creation with beauty and triumphs over the forces of disorder. This victory over the serpent ultimately points to Christ, who crushes the ancient serpent and brings creation to its glorious end (Rom. 16:20).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Isa 27:1In that day the LORD will take His sharp, great, and mighty sword, and bring judgment on Leviathan the fleeing serpent—Leviathan the coiling serpent—and He will slay the dragon of the sea.
- Ps 104:30When You send Your Spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the earth.
- Ps 74:13–14You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea;
- Ps 33:6–7By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the stars by the breath of His mouth.
- Gen 1:2Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
- Rev 12:9And the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
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 26:13 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.