When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,
Parallel translations
- WEB when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness,
- BSB when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its blanket,
- NKJV When I made the clouds its garment, And thick darkness its swaddling band;
- NASB When I made a cloud its garment, And thick darkness its swaddling bands,
- NLT and as I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness?
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 clothed the newborn sea with clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness. Even the wild ocean is tended like an infant by its Maker.
Overview
Continuing the birth imagery, the LORD describes himself swaddling the sea in cloud and darkness. The picture is both majestic and strangely tender, showing God's intimate mastery over creation. It underscores that nothing, however vast, lies outside his careful governance.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 1
- Gen 1:2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 38:9 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.