that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it?
Parallel translations
- KJV That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?
- BSB that it might spread to the ends of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?
- NKJV That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, And the wicked be shaken out of it?
- NASB So that it would take hold of the ends of the earth, And the wicked would be shaken off from it?
- NLT Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth, to bring an end to the night’s wickedness?
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
The dawn grips the edges of the earth and shakes out the wicked who work under cover of night. Light itself serves God's justice.
Overview
God pictures the morning light seizing the earth like a cloth and shaking off evildoers who thrive in darkness. The image links daybreak with the exposure of wickedness. It reminds Job that God's ordering of creation includes a moral dimension, anticipating the day all hidden deeds are brought to light (cf. John 3:20-21).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Ps 104:35Let sinners be consumed out of the earth. Let the wicked be no more. Bless Yahweh, my soul. Praise Yah!
- Job 37:3He sends it out under the whole sky, and his lightning to the ends of the earth.
- Exod 14:27Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it. Yahweh overthrew the Egyptians in the middle of the sea.
- Ps 139:9–12If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea;
- Ps 19:4–6Their voice has gone out through all the earth, their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun,
- Ps 104:21–22The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their food from God.
- Job 24:13–17“These are of those who rebel against the light. They don’t know its ways, nor stay in its paths.
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 38:13 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
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