Hast thou with him spread out the sky, which is strong, and as a molten looking glass?
Parallel translations
- WEB Can you, with him, spread out the sky, which is strong as a cast metal mirror?
- BSB can you, like Him, spread out the skies to reflect the heat like a mirror of bronze?
- NKJV With Him, have you spread out the skies, Strong as a cast metal mirror?
- NASB “Can you, with Him, spread out the skies, Strong as a cast metal mirror?
- NLT he makes the skies reflect the heat like a bronze mirror. Can you do that?
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
Job is challenged whether he can spread out the sky as God does, firm as a polished bronze mirror. He plainly cannot.
Overview
Elihu compares the vault of heaven to a hard, cast-metal mirror, stable and enduring. The question exposes the absurdity of a creature claiming to share in such creative power. This anticipates God's opening challenge in 38:4 about who laid the earth's foundations.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Isa 44:24Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;
- Ps 104:2Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:
- Isa 40:22It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
- Exod 38:8And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the lookingglasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
- Gen 1:6–8And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
- Ps 148:4–6Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens.
- Job 9:8–9Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.
- Isa 40:12Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
- Prov 8:27When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
- Ps 150:1Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 37:18 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.