“By His breath the heavens are cleared; His hand has 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.
- BSB By His breath the skies were cleared; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
- NKJV By His Spirit He adorned the heavens; His hand 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, Yahweh with his hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and leviathan the twisted serpent; and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.
- Ps 104:30You send out your Spirit and they are created. You renew the face of the ground.
- Ps 74:13–14You divided the sea by your strength. You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.
- Ps 33:6–7By Yahweh’s word, the heavens were made; all their army by the breath of his mouth.
- Gen 1:2The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.
- Rev 12:9The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down 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.