Job 38 · Verse 12

Job 38:12

Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;

Job 38:12, King James Version

Job 38:12 in other translations

BSB	In your days, have you commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place,
WEB	“Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place,
ASV	Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days began, And caused the dayspring to know its place;
YLT	Hast thou commanded morning since thy days? Causest thou the dawn to know its place?
DARBY	Hast thou since thy days commanded the morning? hast thou caused the dawn to know its place,
BBE	Have you, from your earliest days, given orders to the morning, or made the dawn conscious of its place;
Webster	Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the day-spring to know its place;

What does Job 38:12 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 38:12-15

12-15. Passing from creation to phenomena in the existing inanimate world. Hast thou--as God daily does. commanded the morning--to rise. since thy days--since thou hast come into being. his place--It varies in its place of rising from day to day, and yet it has its place each day according to fixed laws.

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 12 Hast thou commanded the morning - This refers to dawn or morning twilight, occasioned by the refraction of the solar rays by means of the atmosphere; so that we receive the light by degrees, which would otherwise burst at once upon our eyes, and injure, if not destroy, our sight; and by which even the body of the sun himself becomes evident several minutes before he rises above the horizon. Caused the dayspring to know his place - This seems to refer to the different points in which daybreak appears during the course of the earth's revolution in its orbit; and which variety of points of appearing depends on this annual revolution. For, as the earth goes round the sun every year in the ecliptic, one half of which is on the north side of the equinoctial, and the other half on its south side, the sun appears to change his place every day. These are matters which the wisdom of God alone could plan, and which his power alone could execute. It may be just necessary to observe that the dawn does not appear, nor the sun rise exactly in the same point of the horizon, two successive days in the whole year, as he declines forty-three degrees north, and forty-three degrees south, of east; beginning on the 21st of March, and ending on the 22d of December; which variations not only produce the places of rising and setting, but also the length of day and night. And by this declination north and south, or approach to and recession from the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, the solar light takes hold of the ends of the earth, Job 38:13, enlightens the arctic and antarctic circles in such a way as it would not do were it always on the equinoctial line; these tropics taking the sun twenty-three and a half degrees north, and as many south, of this line.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 38:12-24

The Lord questions Job, to convince him of his ignorance, and shame him for his folly in prescribing to God. If we thus try ourselves, we shall soon be brought to own that what we know is nothing in comparison with what we know not. By the tender mercy of our God, the Day-spring from on high has visited us, to give light to those that sit in darkness, whose hearts are turned to it as clay to the seal, 2Co 4:6. God's way in the government of the world is said to be in the sea; this means, that it is hid from us. Let us make sure that the gates of heaven shall be opened to us on the other side of death, and then we need not fear the opening of the gates of death. It is presumptuous for us, who perceive not the breadth of the earth, to dive into the depth of God's counsels. We should neither in the brightest noon count upon perpetual day, nor in the darkest midnight despair of the return of the morning; and this applies to our inward as well as to our outward condition. What folly it is to strive against God! How much is it our interest to seek peace with him, and to keep in his love!

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Job 38:12 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.

הְֽ֭מִיָּמֶיךָHe.mi.ya.mei.kha¿ from days yourH3117

צִוִּ֣יתָtzi.Vi.tahave you commandedH6680

בֹּ֑קֶרBo.kermorningH1242

יִדַּ֖עְתָּyi.da'.tayou caused to knowH3045

הַשַּׁ֣חַרha.sha.charthe dawnH7837

מְקֹמֽוֹ\׃me.ko.Moplace itsH4725

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

Cross references for Job 38:12

Psalms 74:16
The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
Psalms 148:3-5
Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created.
Genesis 1:5
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Job 8:9
(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:)
Psalms 136:7-8
To him that made great lights: for his mercy endureth for ever: The sun to rule by day: for his mercy endureth for ever:
Luke 1:78
Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
2 Peter 1:19
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
Job 15:7
Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?
Job 38:21
Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great?
Job 38:4
Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

commanded.
Ge 1:5; Ps 74:16; 136:7,8; 148:3-5
since.
4,21; 8:9; 15:7
the dayspring.
Lu 1:78; 2Pe 1:19

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

Context

Job 38:11
And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
Job 38:12
Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;
Job 38:13
That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?

Read all of Job 38

Job 38:12 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	¿Has tú mandado á la mañana en tus días? ¿has mostrado al alba su lugar,
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	As-tu, de ta vie, commandé au matin? As-tu montré à l’aube du jour sa place,
German Elberfelder 1871	Hast du, seitdem du lebst, einem Morgen geboten? Hast du die Morgenröte ihre Stätte wissen lassen,
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Numquid post ortum tuum præcepisti diluculo, et ostendisti auroræ locum suum?