Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
Parallel translations
- WEB “Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke out of the womb,
- BSB Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,
- NKJV “Orwho shut in the sea with doors, When it burst forth and issued from the womb;
- NASB ¶“Or who enclosed the sea with doors When it went out from the womb, bursting forth;
- NLT “Who kept the sea inside its boundaries as it burst from the womb,
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 who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth as from a womb. He alone set bounds on the mighty deep.
Overview
The LORD turns from the earth to the sea, often a biblical symbol of chaos. He pictures the ocean as a newborn that God contained and controlled from its first eruption. This affirms that even the most untamable forces are subject to God's sovereign limits.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Gen 1:9And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
- Jer 5:22Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?
- Prov 8:29When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
- Ps 104:8–9They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them.
- Ps 33:7He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.
- Job 38:10And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,
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 38:8 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.