Job 38 · Verse 8

Job 38:8

Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
Job 38:8, King James Version

Job 38:8 in other translations

BSBWho enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,
WEB“Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke out of the womb,
ASVOr who shut up the sea with doors, When it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb;
YLTAnd He shutteth up with doors the sea, In its coming forth, from the womb it goeth out.
DARBYAnd who shut up the sea with doors, when it burst forth, issuing out of the womb?
BBEOr where were you when the sea came to birth, pushing out from its secret place;
WebsterOr who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?

What does Job 38:8 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
8. doors--floodgates; these when opened caused the flood (Ge 8:2); or else, the shores. womb--of chaos. The bowels of the earth. Image from childbirth (Job 38:8, 9; Eze 32:2; Mi 4:10). Ocean at its birth was wrapped in clouds as its swaddling bands.

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 8 Who shut up the sea with doors - Who gathered the waters together into one place, and fixed the sea its limits, so that it cannot overpass them to inundate the earth? When it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? - This is a very fine metaphor. The sea is represented as a newly born infant issuing from the womb of the void and formless chaos; and the delicate circumstance of the liquor amnii, which bursts out previously to the birth of the foetus, alluded to. The allusion to the birth of a child is carried on in the next verse.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 38:4-11

For the humbling of Job, God here shows him his ignorance, even concerning the earth and the sea. As we cannot find fault with God's work, so we need not fear concerning it. The works of his providence, as well as the work of creation, never can be broken; and the work of redemption is no less firm, of which Christ himself is both the Foundation and the Corner-stone. The church stands as firm as the earth.

Read the full comment on Job 38:4-11 →

Job 38:8 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.

וַיָּ֣סֶךְvai.Ya.sekhand he shut offH5526
בִּדְלָתַ֣יִםbid.la.Ta.yimwith doorsH1817
יָ֑םYam[the] seaH3220
בְּ֝גִיח֗וֹbe.gi.Chowhen burst forth itH1518
מֵרֶ֥חֶםme.Re.chemfrom [the] wombH7358
יֵצֵֽא\׃ye.Tze'it came forthH3318

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

Cross references for Job 38:8

  • 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.

  • Proverbs 8:29

    When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:

  • Jeremiah 5:22

    Fear 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?

  • Psalms 104:8-9

    They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them. Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.

  • Psalms 33:7

    He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.

  • Job 38:10

    And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
who.
10; Ge 1:9; Ps 33:7; 104:9; Pr 8:29; Jer 5:22
out.
29

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

Context

  • Job 38:7

    When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

  • Job 38:8

    Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?

  • Job 38:9

    When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,

Read all of Job 38

Job 38:8 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		¿Quién encerró con puertas la mar, cuando se derramaba por fuera como saliendo de madre;
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et qui a renfermé la mer dans des portes, quand elle rompit les bornes et sortit de la matrice,
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und wer hat das Meer mit Toren verschlossen, als es ausbrach, hervorkam aus dem Mutterschoße,
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Quis conclusit ostiis mare, quando erumpebat quasi de vulva procedens;