Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
Parallel translations
- WEB Can you lead the constellations out in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs?
- BSB Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear and her cubs?
- NKJV Can you bring out Mazzaroth in its season? Or can you guide the Great Bear with its cubs?
- NASB “Can you bring out a constellation in its season, And guide the Bear with her satellites?
- NLT Can you direct the constellations through the seasons or guide the Bear with her cubs across the heavens?
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 bring out the constellations in their seasons or guide the Bear and her cubs? Only God marshals the heavenly bodies.
Overview
God asks whether Job can lead the stars in their seasonal courses. The regular, reliable movement of the heavens is God's appointment. The question reinforces that the orderly cosmos testifies to a wisdom and power utterly beyond Job's reach.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Job 38:31Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
- Job 9:9Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
- 2 Kgs 23:5And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 38:32 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.