He encloses the face of his throne, and spreads his cloud on it.
Parallel translations
- KJV He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it.
- BSB He covers the face of the full moon, spreading over it His cloud.
- NKJV He covers the face of His throne, And spreads His cloud over it.
- NASB “He obscures the face of the full moon And spreads His cloud over it.
- NLT He covers the face of the moon, shrouding it with his clouds.
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 veils His throne by spreading clouds over it. It matters because it pictures God's majesty as both present and hidden.
Overview
Job describes God covering the face of His throne, screening it with cloud. God's full glory is concealed from mortal eyes, accessible only as He chooses to reveal it. This hiddenness anticipates the moment when God draws near in Christ, the visible image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 97:2Clouds and darkness are around him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
- Job 22:14Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn’t see. He walks on the vault of the sky.’
- Hab 3:3–5God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth.
- Exod 33:20–23He said, “You cannot see my face, for man may not see me and live.”
- Exod 20:21The people stayed at a distance, and Moses came near to the thick darkness where God was.
- 1 Kgs 8:12Then Solomon said, “Yahweh has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
- Exod 34:3No one shall come up with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain. Do not let the flocks or herds graze in front of that mountain.”
- 1 Tim 6:16who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 26:9 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.