Job 36 · Verse 30

Job 36:30

Behold, he spreadeth his light upon it, and covereth the bottom of the sea.
Job 36:30, King James Version

Job 36:30 in other translations

BSBSee how He scatters His lightning around Him and covers the depths of the sea.
WEBBehold, he spreads his light around him. He covers the bottom of the sea.
ASVBehold, he spreadeth his light around him; And he covereth the bottom of the sea.
YLTLo, He hath spread over it His light, And the roots of the sea He hath covered,
DARBYLo, he spreadeth his light around him, and covereth the bottom of the sea.
BBESee, he is stretching out his mist, covering the tops of the mountains with it.
WebsterBehold, he spreadeth his light upon it, and covereth the bottom of the sea.

What does Job 36:30 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
30. light--lightning. it--His tabernacle (Job 36:29). The light, in an instant spread over the vast mass of dark clouds, forms a striking picture. spread--is repeated from Job 36:29 to form an antithesis. "He spreads not only clouds, but light." covereth the bottom--roots. of the sea--namely, with the light. In the storm the depths of ocean are laid bare; and the light "covers" them, at the same moment that it "spreads" across the dark sky. So in Psa 18:14, 15, the discovering of "the channels of waters" follows the "lightnings." Umbreit translates: "He spreadeth His light upon Himself, and covereth Himself with the roots of the sea" (Psa 104:2). God's garment is woven of celestial light and of the watery depths, raised to the sky to form His cloudy canopy. The phrase, "cover Himself with the roots of the sea," is harsh; but the image is grand.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 30 He spreadeth his light upon it - Or, as Mr. Good translates, "He throweth forth from it his flash." These two verses may both have an allusion to the sudden rarefaction of that part of the atmosphere whence the thunder proceeds, by the agency of the electric fluid; the rushing in of the air on each side to restore the equilibrium, which the passage of the fire had before destroyed. The noise produced by this sudden rushing in of the air, as well as that occasioned by the ignition of the hydrogen gas, which is one of the constituents of water, is the thunder of his tabernacle, viz., the atmosphere, where God appears, in such cases, to be manifesting his presence and his power. Elihu says that God spreadeth his light upon it. This is spoken in reference to the flashes and coruscations of lightning in the time of thunder storms, when, even in a dark night, a sudden flash illuminates for a moment the surface of the earth under that place. And covereth the bottom of the sea - He doth whatsoever it pleaseth him in the heavens above, in the earth beneath, in the sea, and in all deep places. Yea, the depths of the sea are as much under his control and influence as the atmosphere, and its whole collection of vapours, meteors, and galvanic and electric fluids.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 36:24-33

Elihu endeavours to fill Job with high thought of God, and so to persuade him into cheerful submission to his providence. Man may see God's works, and is capable of discerning his hand in them, which the beasts are not, therefore they ought to give him the glory. But while the worker of iniquity ought to tremble, the true believer should rejoice. Children should hear with pleasure their Father's voice, even when he…

Read the full comment on Job 36:24-33 →

Job 36:30 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

הֵן\־hen-there!H2005
פָּרַ֣שׂpa.Rashe spreads outH6566
עָלָ֣יו'a.Lavon himH5921
אוֹר֑וֹ'o.Rolight hisH216
וְשָׁרְשֵׁ֖יve.sha.re.Sheiand [the] roots ofH8328
הַיָּ֣םhai.Yamthe seaH3220
כִּסָּֽה\׃ki.Sahhe coversH3680

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Job 36:30

  • Job 38:25

    Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;

  • Exodus 14:22

    And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.

  • Exodus 14:28

    And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.

  • Genesis 1:9

    And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

  • Psalms 18:11-16

    He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire. The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire. Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them. …

  • Psalms 104:5-9

    Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever. Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them. …

  • Job 38:34-35

    Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee? Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?

  • Exodus 15:4-5

    Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea. The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone.

  • Job 38:8-11

    Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it, And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?

  • Luke 17:24

    For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
he.
38:25,34,35; Lu 17:24
and.
38:8-11; Ge 1:9; Ex 14:22,28; 15:4,5; Ps 18:11-16; 104:5-9
bottom. Heb. roots.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Job 36:29

    Also can any understand the spreadings of the clouds, or the noise of his tabernacle?

  • Job 36:30

    Behold, he spreadeth his light upon it, and covereth the bottom of the sea.

  • Job 36:31

    For by them judgeth he the people; he giveth meat in abundance.

Read all of Job 36

Job 36:30 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		He aquí que sobre él extiende su luz, y cobija con ella las raíces de la mar.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Voici, il étend sa lumière autour de lui, et couvre le fond de la mer.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Siehe, er breitet sein Licht um sich aus, und die Gründe des Meeres bedeckt er.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		et fulgurare lumine suo desuper, cardines quoque maris operiet.