that you should take it to its bound, that you should discern the paths to its house?
Parallel translations
- KJV That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?
- BSB so you can lead it back to its border? Do you know the paths to its home?
- NKJV That you may take it to its territory, That you may know the paths to its home?
- NASB That you would take it to its territory, And discern the paths to its home?
- NLT Can you take each to its home? Do you know how to get there?
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
Can Job lead light and darkness to their boundaries or find the way to their dwellings? He has no such authority.
Overview
Continuing from the previous verse, God asks whether Job can escort light and darkness home or trace their paths. The questions are gently ironic, exposing human helplessness over creation's order. They press Job toward humble acknowledgment of God's incomparable wisdom.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Gen 23:17So the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all of its borders, were deeded
- Gen 10:19The border of the Canaanites was from Sidon — as you go toward Gerar — to Gaza — as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim — to Lasha.
- Job 26:10He has described a boundary on the surface of the waters, and to the confines of light and darkness.
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 38:20 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.