Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding.
- KJV Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
- NKJV “Wherewere you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.
- NASB “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding,
- NLT “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much.
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 where Job was when the earth's foundations were laid. The obvious answer, nowhere, exposes the gulf between Creator and creature.
Overview
The LORD begins with creation itself, a work that long preceded Job. By asking Job to 'declare, if you have understanding,' God highlights human ignorance of the most basic realities. This opening question establishes the theme of the whole speech: God's unsearchable wisdom in making and governing the world.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 104:5He set the earth on its foundations, never to be moved.
- Heb 1:10And: “In the beginning, O Lord, You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.
- Prov 30:4Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in His hands? Who has bound up the waters in His cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is the name of His Son—surely you know!
- Heb 1:2But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.
- Gen 1:1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
- Ps 102:25In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.
- Prov 8:22The LORD created me as His first course, before His works of old.
- Prov 8:29–30when He set a boundary for the sea, so that the waters would not surpass His command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth.
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 38:4 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.