“Have you entered the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in search of the depths?
Parallel translations
- WEB “Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?
- KJV Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?
- BSB Have you journeyed to the vents of the sea or walked in the trenches of the deep?
- NASB ¶“Have you entered the springs of the sea, And walked in the depth of the ocean?
- NLT “Have you explored the springs from which the seas come? Have you explored their depths?
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 asks if Job has explored the sea's hidden springs or walked the depths of the abyss. Such regions lie utterly beyond human reach.
Overview
The LORD probes Job's knowledge of the unseen sources and recesses of the ocean. These are places no person can visit or comprehend. The question deepens Job's awareness that vast realms of God's creation lie wholly outside human experience and control.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Prov 8:24When there were no depths, I was born, when there were no springs abounding with water.
- Job 26:5–6“The departed spirits tremble, those beneath the waters and all that live in them.
- Ps 77:19Your way was through the sea; your paths through the great waters. Your footsteps were not known.
- Jer 51:36Therefore Yahweh says: “Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
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 38:16 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.