1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
2 Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,
10 And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,
11 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
12 Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;
13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?
14 It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.
15 And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.
16 Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?
17 Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?
18 Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all.
19 Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof,
20 That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?
21 Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great?
22 Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,
23 Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?
24 By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?
25 Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;
26 To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;
27 To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?
28 Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
29 Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?
30 The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.
31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
32 Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
33 Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?
34 Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?
35 Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go and say unto thee, Here we are?
36 Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?
37 Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven,
38 When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together?
39 Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions,
40 When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait?
41 Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.
1 Then the LORD H3068 answered H6030 Job H347 out of the whirlwind, H5591 and said, H559
2 Who is this that darkeneth H2821 counsel H6098 by words H4405 without knowledge? H1847
3 Gird up H247 now thy loins H2504 like a man; H1397 for I will demand H7592 of thee, and answer H3045 thou me.
4 Where H375 wast thou when I laid the foundations H3245 of the earth? H776 declare, H5046 if thou hast H3045 understanding. H998
5 Who hath laid H7760 the measures H4461 thereof, if thou knowest? H3045 or who hath stretched H5186 the line H6957 upon it?
6 Whereupon are the foundations H134 thereof fastened? H2883 or who laid H3384 the corner H6438 stone H68 thereof;
7 When the morning H1242 stars H3556 sang H7442 together, H3162 and all the sons H1121 of God H430 shouted H7321 for joy?
8 Or who shut up H5526 the sea H3220 with doors, H1817 when it brake forth, H1518 as if it had issued out H3318 of the womb? H7358
9 When I made H7760 the cloud H6051 the garment H3830 thereof, and thick darkness H6205 a swaddlingband H2854 for it,
10 And brake up H7665 for it my decreed H2706 place, and set H7760 bars H1280 and doors, H1817
11 And said, H559 Hitherto H5704 H6311 shalt thou come, H935 but no further: H3254 and here shall thy proud H1347 waves H1530 be stayed? H7896
12 Hast thou commanded H6680 the morning H1242 since thy days; H3117 and caused the dayspring H7837 to know H3045 his place; H4725
13 That it might take hold H270 of the ends H3671 of the earth, H776 that the wicked H7563 might be shaken out H5287 of it?
14 It is turned H2015 as clay H2563 to the seal; H2368 and they stand H3320 as a garment. H3830
15 And from the wicked H7563 their light H216 is withholden, H4513 and the high H7311 arm H2220 shall be broken. H7665
16 Hast thou entered H935 into the springs H5033 of the sea? H3220 or hast thou walked H1980 in the search H2714 of the depth? H8415
17 Have the gates H8179 of death H4194 been opened H1540 unto thee? or hast thou seen H7200 the doors H8179 of the shadow of death? H6757
18 Hast thou perceived H995 the breadth H7338 of the earth? H776 declare H5046 if thou knowest H3045 it all.
19 Where is the way H1870 where light H216 dwelleth? H7931 and as for darkness, H2822 where is the place H4725 thereof,
20 That thou shouldest take H3947 it to the bound H1366 thereof, and that thou shouldest know H995 the paths H5410 to the house H1004 thereof?
21 Knowest H3045 thou it, because thou wast then born? H3205 or because the number H4557 of thy days H3117 is great? H7227
22 Hast thou entered H935 into the treasures H214 of the snow? H7950 or hast thou seen H7200 the treasures H214 of the hail, H1259
23 Which I have reserved H2820 against the time H6256 of trouble, H6862 against the day H3117 of battle H7128 and war? H4421
24 By what H335 way H1870 is the light H216 parted, H2505 which scattereth H6327 the east wind H6921 upon the earth? H776
25 Who hath divided H6385 a watercourse H8585 for the overflowing of waters, H7858 or a way H1870 for the lightning H2385 of thunder; H6963
26 To cause it to rain H4305 on the earth, H776 where no man H376 is; on the wilderness, H4057 wherein there is no man; H120
27 To satisfy H7646 the desolate H7722 and waste H4875 ground; and to cause the bud H4161 of the tender herb H1877 to spring forth? H6779
28 Hath H3426 the rain H4306 a father? H1 or who hath begotten H3205 the drops H96 of dew? H2919
29 Out of whose womb H990 came H3318 the ice? H7140 and the hoary frost H3713 of heaven, H8064 who hath gendered H3205 it?
30 The waters H4325 are hid H2244 as with a stone, H68 and the face H6440 of the deep H8415 is frozen. H3920
31 Canst thou bind H7194 the sweet influences H4575 of Pleiades, H3598 or loose H6605 the bands H4189 of Orion? H3685
32 Canst thou bring forth H3318 Mazzaroth H4216 in his season? H6256 or canst thou guide H5148 Arcturus H5906 with his sons? H1121
33 Knowest H3045 thou the ordinances H2708 of heaven? H8064 canst thou set H7760 the dominion H4896 thereof in the earth? H776
34 Canst thou lift up H7311 thy voice H6963 to the clouds, H5645 that abundance H8229 of waters H4325 may cover H3680 thee?
35 Canst thou send H7971 lightnings, H1300 that they may go, H3212 and say H559 unto thee, Here we are?
36 Who hath put H7896 wisdom H2451 in the inward parts? H2910 or who hath given H5414 understanding H998 to the heart? H7907
37 Who can number H5608 the clouds H7834 in wisdom? H2451 or who can stay H7901 the bottles H5035 of heaven, H8064
38 When the dust H6083 groweth H3332 into hardness, H4165 and the clods H7263 cleave fast together? H1692
39 Wilt thou hunt H6679 the prey H2964 for the lion? H3833 or fill H4390 the appetite H2416 of the young lions, H3715
40 When they couch H7817 in their dens, H4585 and abide H3427 in the covert H5521 to H3926 lie in wait? H695
41 Who provideth H3559 for the raven H6158 his food? H6718 when his young ones H3206 cry H7768 unto God, H410 they wander H8582 for lack H1097 of meat. H400
1 Then Jehovah answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
2 Who is this that darkeneth counsel By words without knowledge?
3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; For I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding.
5 Who determined the measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 Whereupon were the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the corner-stone thereof,
7 When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 Or `who' shut up the sea with doors, When it brake forth, `as if' it had issued out of the womb;
9 When I made clouds the garment thereof, And thick darkness a swaddling-band for it,
10 And marked out for it my bound, And set bars and doors,
11 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; And here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
12 Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days `began', `And' caused the dayspring to know its place;
13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, And the wicked be shaken out of it?
14 It is changed as clay under the seal; And `all things' stand forth as a garment:
15 And from the wicked their light is withholden, And the high arm is broken.
16 Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? Or hast thou walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed unto thee? Or hast thou seen the gates of the shadow of death?
18 Hast thou comprehended the earth in its breadth? Declare, if thou knowest it all.
19 Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And as for darkness, where is the place thereof,
20 That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, And that thou shouldest discern the paths to the house thereof?
21 `Doubtless', thou knowest, for thou wast then born, And the number of thy days is great!
22 Hast thou entered the treasuries of the snow, Or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,
23 Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, Against the day of battle and war?
24 By what way is the light parted, Or the east wind scattered upon the earth?
25 Who hath cleft a channel for the waterflood, Or the way for the lightning of the thunder;
26 To cause it to rain on a land where no man is; On the wilderness, wherein there is no man;
27 To satisfy the waste and desolate `ground', And to cause the tender grass to spring forth?
28 Hath the rain a father? Or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
29 Out of whose womb came the ice? And the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?
30 The waters hide themselves `and become' like stone, And the face of the deep is frozen.
31 Canst thou bind the cluster of the Pleiades, Or loose the bands of Orion?
32 Canst thou lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season? Or canst thou guide the Bear with her train?
33 Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens? Canst thou establish the dominion thereof in the earth?
34 Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, That abundance of waters may cover thee?
35 Canst thou send forth lightnings, that they may go, And say unto thee, Here we are?
36 Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who hath given understanding to the mind?
37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven,
38 When the dust runneth into a mass, And the clods cleave fast together?
39 Canst thou hunt the prey for the lioness, Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40 When they couch in their dens, `And' abide in the covert to lie in wait?
41 Who provideth for the raven his prey, When his young ones cry unto God, `And' wander for lack of food?
1 And Jehovah answereth Job out of the whirlwind, and saith: --
2 Who `is' this -- darkening counsel, By words without knowledge?
3 Gird, I pray thee, as a man, thy loins, And I ask thee, and cause thou Me to know.
4 Where wast thou when I founded earth? Declare, if thou hast known understanding.
5 Who placed its measures -- if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched out upon it a line?
6 On what have its sockets been sunk? Or who hath cast its corner-stone?
7 In the singing together of stars of morning, And all sons of God shout for joy,
8 And He shutteth up with doors the sea, In its coming forth, from the womb it goeth out.
9 In My making a cloud its clothing, And thick darkness its swaddling band,
10 And I measure over it My statute, And place bar and doors,
11 And say, `Hitherto come thou, and add not, And a command is placed On the pride of thy billows.'
12 Hast thou commanded morning since thy days? Causest thou the dawn to know its place?
13 To take hold on the skirts of the earth, And the wicked are shaken out of it,
14 It turneth itself as clay of a seal And they station themselves as clothed.
15 And withheld from the wicked is their light, And the arm lifted up is broken.
16 Hast thou come in to springs of the sea? And in searching the deep Hast thou walked up and down?
17 Revealed to thee were the gates of death? And the gates of death-shade dost thou see?
18 Thou hast understanding, Even unto the broad places of earth! Declare -- if thou hast known it all.
19 Where `is' this -- the way light dwelleth? And darkness, where `is' this -- its place?
20 That thou dost take it unto its boundary, And that thou dost understand The paths of its house.
21 Thou hast known -- for then thou art born And the number of thy days `are' many!
22 Hast thou come in unto the treasure of snow? Yea, the treasures of hail dost thou see?
23 That I have kept back for a time of distress, For a day of conflict and battle.
24 Where `is' this, the way light is apportioned? It scattereth an east wind over the earth.
25 Who hath divided for the flood a conduit? And a way for the lightning of the voices?
26 To cause `it' to rain on a land -- no man, A wilderness -- no man in it.
27 To satisfy a desolate and waste place, And to cause to shoot up The produce of the tender grass?
28 Hath the rain a father? Or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
29 From whose belly came forth the ice? And the hoar-frost of the heavens, Who hath begotten it?
30 As a stone waters are hidden, And the face of the deep is captured.
31 Dost thou bind sweet influences of Kimah? Or the attractions of Kesil dost thou open?
32 Dost thou bring out Mazzaroth in its season? And Aysh for her sons dost thou comfort?
33 Hast thou known the statutes of heaven? Or dost thou appoint Its dominion in the earth?
34 Dost thou lift up to the cloud thy voice, And abundance of water doth cover thee?
35 Dost thou send out lightnings, and they go And say unto thee, `Behold us?'
36 Who hath put in the inward parts wisdom? Or who hath given To the covered part understanding?
37 Who doth number the clouds by wisdom? And the bottles of the heavens, Who doth cause to lie down,
38 In the hardening of dust into hardness, And clods cleave together?
39 Dost thou hunt for a lion prey? And the desire of young lions fulfil?
40 When they bow down in dens -- Abide in a thicket for a covert?
41 Who doth prepare for a raven his provision, When his young ones cry unto God? They wander without food.
1 And Jehovah answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
2 Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; and I will demand of thee, and inform thou me.
4 Where wast thou when I founded the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding.
5 Who set the measures thereof -- if thou knowest? or who stretched a line upon it?
6 Whereupon were the foundations thereof sunken? or who laid its corner-stone,
7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 And who shut up the sea with doors, when it burst forth, issuing out of the womb?
9 When I made the cloud its garment, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it;
10 When I cut out for it my boundary, and set bars and doors,
11 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come and no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
12 Hast thou since thy days commanded the morning? hast thou caused the dawn to know its place,
13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and the wicked might be shaken out of it?
14 It is changed like the signet-clay; and [all things] stand forth as in a garment:
15 And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the uplifted arm is broken.
16 Hast thou entered as far as the springs of the sea? and hast thou walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed unto thee? and hast thou seen the gates of the shadow of death?
18 Hath thine understanding compassed the breadths of the earth? Declare if thou knowest it all.
19 Where is the way to where light dwelleth? and the darkness, where is its place,
20 That thou shouldest take it to its bound, and that thou shouldest know the paths to its house?
21 Thou knowest, for thou wast then born, and the number of thy days is great!
22 Hast thou entered into the storehouses of the snow, and hast thou seen the treasuries of the hail,
23 Which I have reserved for the time of distress, for the day of battle and war?
24 By what way is the light parted, [and] the east wind scattered upon the earth?
25 Who hath divided a channel for the rain-flood, and a way for the thunder's flash;
26 To cause it to rain on the earth, where no one is; on the wilderness wherein there is not a man;
27 To satisfy the desolate and waste [ground], and to cause the sprout of the grass to spring forth?
28 Hath the rain a father? or who begetteth the drops of dew?
29 Out of whose womb cometh the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who bringeth it forth?
30 When the waters lie hidden as in stone, and the face of the deep holdeth fast together.
31 Canst thou fasten the bands of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?
32 Dost thou bring forth the constellations each in its season? or dost thou guide the Bear with her sons?
33 Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens? dost thou determine their rule over the earth?
34 Dost thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that floods of waters may cover thee?
35 Dost thou send forth lightnings that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?
36 Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the mind?
37 Who numbereth the clouds with wisdom? or who poureth out the bottles of the heavens,
38 When the dust runneth as into a molten mass, and the clods cleave fast together?
39 Dost thou hunt the prey for the lioness, and dost thou satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40 When they crouch in [their] dens, [and] abide in the thicket to lie in wait?
41 Who provideth for the raven his food, when his young ones cry unto ùGod, [and] they wander for lack of meat?
1 Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind,
2 "Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man, For I will question you, then you answer me!
4 "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined the measures of it, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it?
6 Whereupon were the foundations of it fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone,
7 When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 "Or who shut up the sea with doors, When it broke forth from the womb,
9 When I made clouds the garment of it, Thick darkness a swaddling-band for it,
10 Marked out for it my bound, Set bars and doors,
11 And said, 'Here you may come, but no further; Here shall your proud waves be stayed?'
12 "Have you commanded the morning in your days, And caused the dawn to know its place;
13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, And shake the wicked out of it?
14 It is changed as clay under the seal, And stands forth as a garment.
15 From the wicked, their light is withheld, The high arm is broken.
16 "Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
18 Have you comprehended the earth in its breadth? Declare, if you know it all.
19 "What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is the place of it,
20 That you should take it to the bound of it, That you should discern the paths to the house of it?
21 Surely you know, for you were born then, And the number of your days is great!
22 Have you entered the treasuries of the snow, Or have you seen the treasures of the hail,
23 Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, Against the day of battle and war?
24 By what way is the lightning distributed, Or the east wind scattered on the earth?
25 Who has cut a channel for the flood water, Or the path for the thunderstorm;
26 To cause it to rain on a land where no man is; On the wilderness, in which there is no man;
27 To satisfy the waste and desolate ground, To cause the tender grass to spring forth?
28 Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew?
29 Out of whose womb came the ice? The gray frost of the sky, who has given birth to it?
30 The waters become hard like stone, When the surface of the deep is frozen.
31 "Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, Or loosen the cords of Orion?
32 Can you lead forth the constellations in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish the dominion of it over the earth?
34 "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That abundance of waters may cover you?
35 Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, 'Here we are?'
36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind?
37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of the sky,
38 When the dust runs into a mass, And the clods of earth stick together?
39 "Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40 When they crouch in their dens, And lie in wait in the thicket?
41 Who provides for the raven his prey, When his young ones cry to God, And wander for lack of food?
1 And the Lord made answer to Job out of the storm-wind, and said,
2 Who is this who makes the purpose of God dark by words without knowledge?
3 Get your strength together like a man of war; I will put questions to you, and you will give me the answers.
4 Where were you when I put the earth on its base? Say, if you have knowledge.
5 By whom were its measures fixed? Say, if you have wisdom; or by whom was the line stretched out over it?
6 On what were its pillars based, or who put down its angle-stone,
7 When the morning stars made songs together, and all the sons of the gods gave cries of joy?
8 Or where were you when the sea came to birth, pushing out from its secret place;
9 When I made the cloud its robe, and put thick clouds as bands round it,
10 Ordering a fixed limit for it, with locks and doors;
11 And said, So far you may come, and no farther; and here the pride of your waves will be stopped?
12 Have you, from your earliest days, given orders to the morning, or made the dawn conscious of its place;
13 So that it might take a grip of the skirts of the earth, shaking all the evil-doers out of it?
14 It is changed like wet earth under a stamp, and is coloured like a robe;
15 And from the evil-doers their light is kept back, and the arm of pride is broken.
16 Have you come into the springs of the sea, walking in the secret places of the deep?
17 Have the doors of death been open to you, or have the door-keepers of the dark ever seen you?
18 Have you taken note of the wide limits of the earth? Say, if you have knowledge of it all.
19 Which is the way to the resting-place of the light, and where is the store-house of the dark;
20 So that you might take it to its limit, guiding it to its house?
21 No doubt you have knowledge of it, for then you had come to birth, and the number of your days is great.
22 Have you come into the secret place of snow, or have you seen the store-houses of the ice-drops,
23 Which I have kept for the time of trouble, for the day of war and fighting?
24 Which is the way to the place where the wind is measured out, and the east wind sent out over the earth?
25 By whom has the way been cut for the flowing of the rain, and the flaming of the thunder;
26 Causing rain to come on a land where no man is living, on the waste land which has no people;
27 To give water to the land where there is waste and destruction, and to make the dry land green with young grass?
28 Has the rain a father? or who gave birth to the drops of night mist?
29 Out of whose body came the ice? and who gave birth to the cold mist of heaven?
30 The waters are joined together, hard as a stone, and the face of the deep is covered.
31 Are the bands of the Pleiades fixed by you, or are the cords of Orion made loose?
32 Do you make Mazzaroth come out in its right time, or are the Bear and its children guided by you?
33 Have you knowledge of the laws of the heavens? did you give them rule over the earth?
34 Is your voice sent up to the cloud, so that you may be covered by the weight of waters?
35 Do you send out the thunder-flames, so that they may go, and say to you, Here we are?
36 Who has put wisdom in the high clouds, or given knowledge to the lights of the north?
37 By whose wisdom are the clouds numbered, or the water-skins of the heavens turned to the earth,
38 When the earth becomes hard as metal, and is joined together in masses?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Job 38
Commentary on Job 38 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
1 Then Jehovah answered Job out of the storm, and said:
2 Who then darkeneth counsel
With words without knowledge?
3 Gird up now thy loins as a man:
I will question thee, and inform thou me!
“May the Almighty answer me!” Job has said, Job 31:35; He now really answers, and indeed out of the storm ( Chethib , according to a mode of writing occurring only here and Job 40:6, מנהסערה , arranged in two words by the Keri), which is generally the forerunner of His self-manifestation in the world, of that at least by which He reveals Himself in His absolute awe-inspiring greatness and judicial grandeur. The art . is to be understood generically, but, with respect to Elihu's speeches, refers to the storm which has risen up in the meanwhile. It is not to be translated: Who is he who ... , which ought to be המחשׁיך , but: Who then is darkening; זה makes the interrogative מי more vivid and demonstrative, Ges. §122, 2; the part . מחשׁיך (instead of which it might also be יחשׁיך ) favours the assumption that Job has uttered such words immediately before, and is interrupted by Jehovah, without an intervening speaker having come forward. It is intentionally עצה for עצתי (comp. עם for עמי , Isaiah 26:11), to describe that which is spoken of according to its quality: it is nothing less than a decree or plan full of purpose and connection which Job darkness, i.e., distorts by judging it falsely, or, as we say: places in a false light, and in fact by meaningless words.
(Note: The correct accentuation is מחשׁיך with Mercha , עצה with Athnach , במלין with Rebia mugrasch , bly (without Makkeph ) with Munach .)
When now Jehovah condescends to negotiate with Job by question and answer, He does not do exactly what Job wished (Job 13:22), but something different, of which Job never thought. He surprises him with questions which are intended to bring him indirectly to the consciousness of the wrong and absurdity of his challenge - questions among which “there are many which the natural philosophy of the present day can frame more scientifically, but cannot satisfactorily solve.”
(Note: Alex. v. Humboldt, Kosmos , ii. 48 (1st edition), comp. Tholuck, Vermischte Schriften, i. 354.)
Instead of כגבר (the received reading of Ben-Ascher), Ben-Naphtali's text offered כּג (as Ezekiel 17:10), in order not to allow two so similar, aspirated mutae to come together.
4 Where wast thou when I established the earth?
Say, if thou art capable of judging!
5 Who hath determined its measure, if thou knowest it,
Or who hath stretched the measuring line over it?
6 Upon what are the bases of its pillars sunk in,
Or who hath laid its corner-stone,
7 When the morning stars sang together
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
The examination begins similarly to Job 15:7. In opposition to the censurer of God as such the friends were right, although only negatively, since their conduct was based on self-delusion, as though they were in possession of the key to the mystery of the divine government of the world. ידע בּינה signifies to understand how to judge, to possess a competent understanding, 1 Chronicles 12:32; 2 Chronicles 2:12, or ( ידע taken not in the sense of novisse , but cognoscere ) to appropriate to one's self, Proverbs 4:1; Isaiah 29:24. כּי , Job 38:5 , interchanges with אם (comp. Job 38:18), for כּי תדע signifies: suppose that thou knowest it, and this si forte scias is almost equivalent to an forte scis , Proverbs 30:4. The founding of the earth is likened altogether to that of a building constructed by man. The question: upon what are the bases of its pillars or foundations sunk ( טבע , Arab. ṭb‛ , according to its radical signification, to press with something flat upon something, comp. Arab. ṭbq , to lay two flat things on one another, then both to form or stamp by pressure, and to press into soft pliant stuff, or let down into, immergere , or to sink into, immergi ), points to the fact of the earth hanging free in space, Job 26:7. Then no human being was present, for man was not yet created; the angels, however, beheld with rejoicing the founding of the place of the future human family, and the mighty acts of God in accordance with the decree of His love (as at the building of the temple, the laying of the foundation, Ezra 3:10, and the setting of the head-stone, Zechariah 4:7, were celebrated), for the angels were created before the visible world ( Psychol . S. 63; Genesis , S. 105), as is indeed not taught here, but still (vid., on the other hand, Hofmann, Schriftbew . i. 400) is assumed. For בּני אלהים are, as in Job 1-2, the angels, who proceeded from God by a mode of creation which is likened to begetting, and who with Him form one πατριά ( Genesis , S. 121). The “morning stars,” however, are mentioned in connection with them, because between the stars and the angels, which are both comprehended in צבא השׁמים ( Genesis , S. 128), a mysterious connection exists, which is manifoldly attested in Holy Scripture (vid., on the other hand, Hofm. ib . S. 318). כּוכב בּקר is the morning star which in Isaiah 14:12 is called הילל (as extra-bibl. נגהּ ) from its dazzling light, which exceeds all other stars in brightness, and בּן־שׁחר , son of the dawn, because it swims in the dawn as though it were born from it. It was just the dawn of the world coming into being, which is the subject spoken of, that gave rise to the mention of the morning star; the plur., however, does not mean the stars which came into being on that morning of the world collectively (Hofm., Schlottm.), but Lucifer with the stars his peers, as כּסילים , Isaiah 13:10, Orion and the stars his peers. Arab. suhayl (Canopus) is used similarly as a generic name for stars of remarkable brilliancy, and in general suhêl is to the nomads and the Hauranites the symbol of what is brilliant, glorious, and beautiful;
(Note: A man or woman of great beauty is called suhêli , suhelı̂je . Thus I heard a Hauranitish woman say to her companion: nahâr el - jôm nedâ , shuft ledsch (Arab. lk ) wâhid Suhêli , To-day is dew, I saw a Suhêli , i.e., a very handsome man, for thee. - Wetzst.)
so that even the beings of light of the first rank among the celestial spirits might be understood by כוכבי בקר . But if this ought to be the meaning, Job 38:7 and Job 38:7 would be in an inverted order. They are actual stars, whether it is intended of the sphere belonging to the earth or to the higher sphere comprehended in השׁמים , Genesis 1:1. Joy and light are reciprocal notions, and the scale of the tones of joy is likened to the scale of light and colours; therefore the fulness of light, in which the morning stars shone forth all together at the founding of the earth, may symbolize one grandly harmonious song of joy.
8 And who shut up the sea with doors,
When it broke through, issued from the womb,
9 When I put clouds round it as a garment,
And thick mist as its swaddling clothes,
10 And I broke for it my bound,
And set bars and doors,
11 And said: Hitherto come, and no further,
And here be thy proud waves stayed!?
The state of תהו ובהו was the first half, and the state of תהום the second half of the primeval condition of the forming earth. The question does not, however, refer to the תהום , in which the waters of the sky and the waters of the earth were as yet not separated, but, passing over this intermediate condition of the forming earth, to the sea, the waters of which God shut up as by means of a door and bolt, when, first enshrouded in thick mist (which has remained from that time one of its natural peculiarities), and again and again manifesting its individuality, it broke forth ( גּיח of the foetus, as Psalms 22:10) from the bowels of the, as yet, chaotic earth. That the sea, in spite of the flatness of its banks, does not flow over the land, is a work of omnipotence which broke over it, i.e., restraining it, a fixed bound ( חק as Job 26:10; Proverbs 8:29; Jeremiah 5:22, = גּבוּל , Psalms 104:9), viz., the steep and rugged walls of the basin of the sea, and which thereby established a firm barrier behind which it should be kept. Instead of וּפה , Joshua 18:8, Job 38:11 has the Chethib וּפא . חק is to be understood with ישׁית , and “one set” is equivalent to the passive (Ges. §137*): let a bound be set (comp. שׁת , Hosea 6:11, which is used directly so) against the proud rising of thy waves.
12 Hast thou in thy life commanded a morning,
Caused the dawn to know its place,
13 That it may take hold of the ends of the earth,
So that the evil-doers are shaken under it?
14 That it changeth like the clay of a signet-ring,
And everything fashioneth itself as a garment.
15 Their light is removed from the evil-doers,
And the out-stretched arm is broken.
The dawn of the morning, spreading out from one point, takes hold of the carpet of the earth as it were by the edges, and shakes off from it the evil-doers, who had laid themselves to rest upon it the night before. נער , combining in itself the significations to thrust and to shake, has the latter here, as in the Arab. nâ‛ûra , a water-wheel, which fills its compartments below in the river, to empty them out above. Instead of ידּעתּה שׁחר with He otians, the Keri substitutes ידּעתּ השׁחר . The earth is the subj. to Job 38:14 : the dawn is like the signet-ring, which stamps a definite impress on the earth as the clay, the forms which floated in the darkness of the night become visible and distinguishable. The subj. to Job 38:14 are not morning and dawn (Schult.), still less the ends of the earth (Ew. with the conjecture: יתיבצו , "they become dazzlingly white”), but the single objects on the earth: the light of morning gives to everything its peculiar garb of light, so that, hitherto overlaid by a uniform darkness, they now come forth independently, they gradually appear in their variegated diversity of form and hue. In כּמו לבוּשׁ , לבוש is conceived as accusative (Arab. kemâ libâsan , or thauban ), while in כלבושׁ (Psalms 104:6, instar vestis ) it would be genitive. To the end of the strophe everything is under the logical government of the ל of purpose in Job 38:13 . The light of the evil-doers is, according to Job 24:17, the darkness of the night, which is for them in connection with their works what the light of day is for other men. The sunrise deprives them, the enemies of light in the true sense (Job 24:13), of this light per antiphrasin , and the carrying out of their evil work, already prepared for, is frustrated. The ע of רשׁעים , Job 38:13 and Job 38:15, is תלויה עין [ Ayin suspensum, ] which is explained according to the Midrash thus: the רשׁעים , now עשׁירים (rich), become at a future time רשׁים (poor); or: God deprives them of the עין (light of the eye), by abandoning them to the darkness which they loved.
16 Hast thou reached the fountains of the sea,
And hast thou gone into the foundation of the deep?
17 Were the gates of death unveiled to thee,
And didst thou see the gates of the realm of shades?
18 Hast thou comprehended the breadth of the earth?
Speak, in so far as thou knowest all this!
19 Which is the way to where the light dwelleth,
And darkness, where is its place,
20 That thou mightest bring it to its bound,
And that thou mightest know the paths of its house?
21 Thou knowest it, for then wast thou born,
And the number of thy days is great! -
The root נב has the primary notion of obtruding itself upon the senses (vid., Genesis , S. 635), whence נבך in Arabic of a rising country that pleases the eye ( nabaka , a hill, a hillside), and here (cognate in root and meaning נבע , Syr. Talmud. נבג , Arab. nbg , nbṭ , scatuirire ) of gushing and bubbling water. Hitzig's conjecture, approved by Olsh., נבלי , sets aside a word that is perfectly clear so far as the language is concerned. On חקר vid., on Job 11:7. The question put to Job in Job 38:17, he must, according to his own confession, Job 26:6, answer in the negative. In order to avoid the collision of two aspirates, the interrogative ה is wanting before התבּננתּ , Ew. §324, b ; התבנן עד signifies, according to Job 32:12, to observe anything carefully; the meaning of the question therefore is, whether Job has given special attention to the breadth of the earth, and whether he consequently has a comprehensive and thorough knowledge of it. כּלּהּ refers not to the earth (Hahn, Olsh., and others), but, as neuter, to the preceding points of interrogation. The questions, Job 38:19, refer to the principles of light and darkness, i.e., their final causes, whence they come forth as cosmical phenomena. ישׁכּן־אור is a relative clause, Ges. §123, 3, c ; the noun that governs (the Regens ) this virtual genitive, which ought in Arabic to be without the art . as being determined by the regens , is, according to the Hebrew syntax, which is freer in this respect, הדּרך (comp. Ges. §110, 2). That which is said of the bound of darkness, i.e., the furthest point at which darkness passes away, and the paths to its house, applies also to the light, which the poet perhaps has even prominently (comp. Job 24:13) before his mind: light and darkness have a first cause which is inaccessible to man, and beyond his power of searching out. The admission in Job 38:21 is ironical: Verily! thou art as old as the beginning of creation, when light and darkness, as powers of nature which are distinguished and bounded the one by the other (vid., Job 26:10), were introduced into the rising world; thou art as old as the world, so that thou hast an exact knowledge of its and thine own contemporaneous origin (vid., Job 15:7). On the fut . joined with אז htiw denioj . regularly in the signification of the aorist , vid., Ew. §134, b . The attraction in connection with מספּר is like Job 15:20; Job 21:21.
22 Hast thou reached the treasures of the snow,
And didst thou see the treasures of the hail,
23 Which I have reserved for a time of trouble,
For the day of battle and war?
24 Which is the way where the light is divided,
Where the east wind is scattered over the earth?
25 Who divideth a course for the rain-flood
And the way of the lightning of thunder,
26 That it raineth on the land where no one dwelleth,
On the tenantless steppe,
27 To satisfy the desolate and the waste,
And to cause the tender shoot of the grass to spring forth?
The idea in Job 38:22 is not that - as for instance the peasants of Menמn , four hours' journey from Damascus, garner up the winter snow in a cleft of the rock, in order to convey it to Damascus and the towns of the coast in the hot months - God treasures up the snow and hail above to cause it to descend according to opportunity. אצרות (comp. Psalms 135:7) are the final causes of these phenomena which God has created - the form of the question, the design of which (which must not be forgotten) is ethical, not scientific, is regulated according to the infancy of the perception of natural phenomena among the ancients; but at the same time in accordance with the poet's task, and even, as here, in the choice of the agents of destruction, not merely hail, but also snow, according to the scene of the incident. Wetzstein has in his possession a writing of Muhammed el-Chatîb el-Bosrâwi, in which he describes a fearful fall of snow in Hauran, by which, in February 1860, innumerable herds of sheep, goats, and camels, and also many human beings perished.
(Note: Since the Hauranites say of snow as of fire: jahrik , it burns ( brûlant in French is also used of extreme cold), Job 1:16 might also be understood of a fall of snow; but the tenor of the words there requires it to be understood of actual fire.)
עת־צר might, according to Job 24:1; Job 19:11, signify a time of judgment for the oppressor, i.e., adversary; but it is better to be understood according to Job 36:16; Job 21:30, a time of distress: heavy falls of snow and tempestuous hail-storms bring hard times for men and cattle, and sometimes decide a war as by a divine decree (Joshua 10:11, comp. Isaiah 28:17; Isaiah 30:30; Ezekiel 13:13).
In Job 38:24 it is not, as in Job 38:19 , the place whence light issues, but the mode of the distribution of light over the earth, that is intended; as in Job 38:24 , the laws according to which the east wind flows forth, i.e., spreads over the earth. אור is not lightning (Schlottm.), but light in general: light and wind (instead of which the east wind is particularized, vid., p. 533) stand together as being alike untraceable in their courses. הפיץ , se diffundere , as Exodus 5:12; 1 Samuel 13:8, Ges. §53, 2. In Job 38:25 the descent of torrents of rain inundating certain regions of the earth is intended - this earthward direction assigned to the water-spouts is likened to an aqueduct coming downwards from the sky - and it is only in Job 38:25 , as in Job 28:26, that the words have reference to the lightning, which to man is untraceable, flashing now here, now there. This guiding of the rain to chosen parts of the earth extends also to the tenantless steppe. לא־אישׁ (for בּלא ) is virtually an adj. (vid., on Job 12:24). The superlative combination שׁאה וּמשׁאה (from שׁוא = שׁאה , to be desolate, and to give forth a heavy dull sound, i.e., to sound desolate, vid., on Job 37:6), as Job 30:3 (which see). Not merely for the purposes of His rule among men does God direct the changes of the weather contrary to human foresight; His care extends also to regions where no human habitations are found.
28 Hath the rain a father,
Or who begetteth the drops of dew?
29 Out of whose womb cometh the ice forth,
And who bringeth forth the hoar-frost of heaven?
30 The waters become hard like stone,
And the face of the deep is rolled together.
Rain and dew have no created father, ice and hoar-frost no created mother. The parallelism in both instances shows that מי הוליד asks after the one who begets, and מי ילדו the one who bears (vid., Hupfeld on Psalms 2:7). בּטן is uterus , and meton. (at least in Arabic) progenies uteri; ex utero cujus is מבטן מי , in distinction from מאי־זה בטן , ex quo utero . אגלי־טל is excellently translated by the lxx, Codd. Vat. and Sin., βώλους (with Omega ) δρόσου ; Ges. and Schlottm. correct to βόλους , but βῶλος signifies not merely a clod, but also a lump and a ball. It is the particles of the dew holding together (lxx, Cod. Alex.: συνοχὰς καὶ βω. δρ. ) in a globular form, from אגל , which does not belong to גּלל , but to Arab. 'jil , retinere , II colligere (whence agı̂l , standing water, ma'‛gal , a pool, pond); אגלי is constr., like עגלי from עגל . The waters “hide themselves,” by vanishing as fluid, therefore: freeze. The surface of the deep (lxx ἀσεβοῦς , for which Zwingli has in marg. ἀβύσσου ) “takes hold of itself,” or presses together (comp. Arab. lekda , crowding, synon. hugûm , a striking against) by forming itself into a firm solid mass ( continuum , Job 41:9, comp. Job 37:10). Moreover, the questions all refer not merely to the analysis of the visible origin of the phenomena, but to their final causes.
31 Canst thou join the twistings of the Pleiades,
Or loose the bands of Orion?
32 Canst thou bring forth the signs of the Zodiac at the right time,
And canst thou guide the Bear with its children?
33 Knowest thou the laws of heaven,
Or dost thou define its influence on the earth?
That מעדגּות here signifies bindings or twistings (from עדן = ענד , Job 31:36) is placed beyond question by the unanimous translations of the lxx ( δεσμόν ) and the Targ. ( שׁירי = σειράς ), the testimony of the Masora, according to which the word here has a different signification from 1 Samuel 15:32, and the language of the Talmud, in which מעדנין , Kêlim , c. 20, signifies the knots at the end of a mat, by loosing which it comes to pieces, and Succa , 13 b , the bands (formed of rushes) with which willow-branches are fastened together above in order to form a booth ( succa ); but מדאני , Sabbat , 33 a , signifies a bunch of myrtle (to smell on the Sabbath). מעדנות כּימה is therefore explained according to the Persian comparison of the Pleiades with a bouquet of jewels, mentioned on Job 9:9, and according to the comparison with a necklace ( ‛ipd - eth - thurajja ), e.g., in Sadi in his Gulistan , p. 8 of Graf's translation: “as though the tops of the trees were encircled by the necklace of the Pleiades.” The Arabic name thurajja (diminutive feminine of tharwân ) probably signifies the richly-adorned, clustered constellation. But כּימה signifies without doubt the clustered group,
(Note: The verb כום is still in general use in the Piel (to heap up, form a heap, part. mukauwam , heaped up) and Hithpa . (to accumulate) in Syria, and kôm is any village desolated in days of yore whose stones form a desolate heap comp. Fleischer, De Glossis Habichtianis , p. 41f.]. If, according to Kamus, in old Jemanic kı̂m in the sense of mukâwim signifies a confederate (synon. chilt , gils ), the כּימה would be a confederation, or a heap, assemblage (coetus) of confederates. Perhaps the כימה was regarded as a troop of camels; the Beduins at least call the star directly before the seven-starred constellation of the Pleiades the hâdi , i.e., the singer riding before the procession, who cheers the camels by the sound of the hadwa ( חדוה ), and thereby urges them on. - Wetzst.
On πλειάδες , which perhaps also bear this name as a compressed group (figuratively γότρυς ) of several stars ( ὅτι πλείους ὁμοῦ κατὰ συναγωγήν εἰσι ), vid., Kuhn's Zeitschr . vi. 282-285.)
and Beigel (in Ideler, Sternnamen , S. 147) does not translate badly: ”Canst thou not arrange together the rosette of diamonds (chain would be better) of the Pleiades?”
As to כּסיל , we firmly hold that it denotes Orion (according to which the Greek versions translate Ὠρίων , the Syriac gaboro , the Targ. נפלא or נפילא , the Giant). Orion and the Pleiades are visible in the Syrian sky longer in the year than with us, and there they come about 17º higher above the horizon than with us. Nevertheless the figure of a giant chained to the heavens cannot be rightly shown to be Semitic, and it is questionable whether כסיל is not rather, with Saad., Gecat., Abulwalid, and others, to be regarded as the Suhêl , i.e., Canopus, especially as this is placed as a sluggish helper ( כסיל , Hebr. a fool, Arab. the slothful one, ignavus ) in mythical relation to the constellation of the Bear, which here is called עישׁ , as Job 9:9 עשׁ , and is regarded as a bier, נעשׁ (even in the present day this is the name in the towns and villages of Syria), which the sons and daughters forming the attendants upon the corpse of their father, slain by Gedî , the Pole-star. Understood of Orion, משׁכות (with which Arab. msk , tenere , detinere , is certainly to be compared) are the chains (Arab. masakat , compes ), with which he is chained to the sky; understood of Suhêl, the restraints which prevent his breaking away too soon and reaching the goal.
(Note: In June 1860 I witnessed a quarrel in an encampment of Mo'gil -Beduins, in which one accused the others of having rendered it possible for the enemy to carry off his camels through their negligence; and when the accused assured him they had gone forth in pursuit of the marauders soon after the raid, and only turned back at sunset, the man exclaimed: Ye came indeed to my assistance as Suhêl to Gedî ( פזעתם לי פזע סהיל ללגדי ). I asked my neighbour what the words meant, and was informed they are a proverb which is very often used, and has its origin as follows: The Gedî (i.e., the Pole-star, called mismâr , משׂמר , in Damascus) slew the Na‛sh ( נעשׁ ), and is accordingly encompassed every night by the children of the slain Na‛sh , who are determined to take vengeance on the murderer. The sons (on which account poets usually say benı̂ instead of benât Na‛sh ) go first with the corpse of their father, and the daughters follow. One of the latter is called waldâne , a lying-in woman; she has only recently given birth to a child, and carries her child in her bosom, and she is still pale from her lying-in. (The clear atmosphere of the Syrian sky admits of the child in the bosom of the waldâne being distinctly seen.) In order to give help to the Gedî in this danger, the Suhêl appears in the south, and struggles towards the north with a twinkling brightness, but he has risen too late; the night passes away ere he reaches his goal. Later I frequently heard this story, which is generally known among the Hauranites. - Wetzst.
We add the following by way of explanation. The Pleiades encircle the Pole-star as do all stars, since it stands at the axis of the sky, but they are nearer to it than to Canopus by more than half the distance. This star of the first magnitude culminates about three hours later than the Pleiades, and rises, at the highest, only ten moon's diameters above the horizon of Damascusa significant figure, therefore, of ineffectual endeavour.)
מזּרות is not distinct from מזּלות , 2 Kings 23:5 (comp. מזּרך , “Thy star of fortune,” on Cilician coins), and denotes not the twenty-eight menâzil (from Arab. nzl , to descend, turn in, lodge) of the moon,
(Note: Thus A. Weber in his Abh. über die vedischen Nachrichten von den naxatra (halting-places of the moon), 1860 (comp. Lit. Centralbl. 1859, col. 665), refuted by Steinschneider, Hebr. Bibliographie , 1861, Nr. 22, S. 93f.)
but the twelve signs of the Zodiac, which were likewise imagined as menâzil , i.e., lodging-houses or burûg , strongholds, in which one after another the sun lodges as it describes the circle of the year.
(Note: The names “the Ram, the Bull,” etc., are, according to Epiphanius, Opp . i. p. 34f. ( ed. Petav .), transferred from the Greek into the Jewish astrology, vid., Wissenschaft Kunst Judenthum , S. 220f.)
The usage of the language transferred lzm also to the planets, which, because they lie in the equatorial plane of the sun, as the sun (although more irregularly), run through the constellations of the Zodiac. The question in Job 38:32 therefore means: canst thou bring forth the appointed zodiacal sign for each month, so that (of course with the variation which is limited to about two moon's diameters by the daily progress of the sun through the Zodiac) it becomes visible after sunset and is visible before sunset? On Job 38:33 vid., on Genesis 1:14-19. משׁטר is construed after the analogy of רדה בּ , עצר , משׁל ; and שׁמים , as sing. (Ew. §318, b ).
34 Dost thou raise thy voice to the clouds
That an overflow of waters may cover thee?
35 Dost thou send forth lightnings, and they go,
And say to thee: Here we are?
36 Who hath put wisdom in the reins,
Or who hath given understanding to the cock?
37 Who numbereth the strata of the clouds with wisdom
And the bottles of heaven, who emptieth them,
38 When the dust flows together into a mass,
And the clods cleave together?
As Job 38:25 was worded like Job 28:26, so Job 38:34 is worded like Job 22:11; the ך of תכסך is dageshed in both passages, as Job 36:2, Job 36:18, Habakkuk 2:17. What Jehovah here denies to the natural power of man is possible to the power which man has by faith, as the history of Elijah shows: this, however, does not come under consideration here. In proof of divine omnipotence and human feebleness, Elihu constantly recurs to the rain and the thunder-storm with the lightning, which is at the bidding of God. Most moderns since Schultens therefore endeavour, with great violence, to make טחות and שׂכרי mean meteors and celestial phenomena. Eichh. (Hirz., Hahn) compares the Arabic name for the clouds, tachâ ( tachwa ), Ew. Arab. ḍiḥḥ , sunshine, with the former; the latter, whose root is שׂכה ( סכה ), spectare , is meant to be something that is remarkable in the heavens: an atmospheric phenomenon, a meteor (Hirz.), or a phenomenon caused by light (Ew., Hahn), so that e.g., Umbr. translates: “Who hath put wisdom in the dark clouds, and given understanding to the meteor?” But the meaning which is thus extorted from the words in favour of the connection borders closely upon absurdity. Why, then, shall טחות , from טוּח , Arab. ṭı̂ych , oblinere , adipe obducere , not signify here, as in Psalms 51:8, the reins (embedded in a cushion of fat), and in fact as the seat of the predictive faculty, like כּליות , Job 19:27, as the seat of the innermost longing for the future; and particularly since here, after the constellations and the influences of the stars have just been spoken of, the mention of the gift of divination is not devoid of connection; and, moreover, as a glance at the next strophe shows, the connection which has been hitherto firmly kept to is already in process of being resolved?
If טחות signifies the reins, it is natural to interpret שׂכוי also psychologically, and to translate the intellect (Targ. I, Syr., Arab.), or similarly (Saad., Gecat.), as Ges., Carey, Renan, Schlottm. But there is another rendering handed down which is worthy of attention, although not once mentioned by Rosenm., Hirz., Schlottm., or Hahn, according to which שׂכוי signifies a cock, gallum . We read in b. Rosch ha-Schana, 26 a : ”When I came to Techûm-Kên-Nishraja, R. Simeon b. Lakish relates, the bride was there called נינפי and the cock שׂכוי , according to which Job 38:36 is to be interpreted: שׂכוי = תרנגול .” The Midrash interprets in the same way, Jalkut , §905, beginning: “R. Levi says: In Arabic the cock is called סכוא .” We compare with this, Wajikra rabba , c. 1: “ סוכו is Arabic; in Arabia a prophet is called סכוא ;” whence it is to be inferred that שׂכוי , as is assumed, describes the cock as a seer, as a prophet.
As to the formation of the word, it would certainly be without parallel (Ew., Olsh.) if the word had the tone on the penult., but Codd. and the best old editions have the Munach by the final syllable; Norzi, who has overlooked this, at least notes שׂכוי with the accent on the ult . as a various reading. It is a secondary noun, Ges. §86, 5, a so-called relative noun (De Sacy, Gramm. Arabe , §768): שׂכרי , speculator , from שׂכו ( שׂכוּ , שׂכה ), speculatio , as פּלאי , Judges 13:18 (comp. Psalms 139:6), miraculosus , from פּלא , a cognate form to the Chald. סכוי ( סכואה ), of similar meaning. In connection with this primary signification, speculator , it is intelligible how סכוי in Samaritan (vid., Lagarde on Proverbs, S. 62) can signify the eye; here, however, in a Hebrew poet, the cock, of which e.g., Gregory says: Speculator semper in altitudine stat, ut quidquid venturum sit longe prospiciat . That this signification speculator = gallus
(Note: No Arab. word offers itself here for comparison: tuchaj , a cock, has different consonants, and if Arab. škâ in the sense of Arab. šâk , fortem esse , were to be supposed, שׂכוי would be a synon. of גּבר , which is likewise a name of the cock.)
was generally accepted at least in the Talmudic age, the Beracha prescribed to him who hears the cock crow: “Blessed be He who giveth the cock ( שׂכוי ) knowledge to distinguish between day and night!” shows. In accordance with this, Targ. II translates: who has given understanding לתרנגול בּרא , gallo sylvestri (whereas Targ. I ללבּא , cordi, scil. hominis ), to praise his Lord? and Jer.: ( quis posuit in visceribus hominis sapientiam) et quis dedit gallo intelligentiam . This traditional rendering, condemned as talmudicum commentum (Ges.), we follow rather than the ”phenomenon” of the moderns who guess at a meaning. What is questioned in Cicero, de divin . ii. 26: Quid in mentem venit Callistheni dicere, Deos gallis signum dedisse cantandi, quum id vel natura vel casus efficere potuisset , Jehovah here claims for Himself. The weather-prophet κατ ̓ ἐξοχήν among animals appropriately appears in this astrologico-meteorological connection by the side of the reins as, according to the Semitic view, a medium of augury ( Psychol . S. 268f.). The Koran also makes the cock the watchman who wakes up the heavenly hosts to their duty; and Masius, in his Studies of Nature , has shown how high the cock is placed as being prophetically (for divination) gifted, Moreover, the worship of cocks in the idolatry of the Semites was a service rendered to the stars: the Sabians offered cocks, probably (vid., Chwolsohn, ii. 87) as the white cock of Jezides, regarded by them as a symbol of the sun ( Deutsch. Morgenländ. Zeitschr. 1862, S. 365f.).
In Job 38:37 Jerome translates: et concentum coelorum quis dormire faciet ; נבלי , however, does not here signify harps, but bottles; and השׁכּיב is not: to lay to rest, but to lay down = to empty, pour out, which the Kal also, like the Arab. sakaba , directly signifies. בּצקת might be taken actively: when it pours, but according to 1 Kings 22:35 the intransitive rendering is also possible: when the dust pours forth, i.e., flows together, למוּצק , to what is poured out, i.e., not: to the fluid, but in contrast: to a molten mass, i.e., as cast metal (to be explained not according to Job 22:16, but according to Job 37:18), for the dry, sandy, dusty earth is made firm by the downfall of the rain (Arab. ruṣidat , firmata est terra imbre , comp. Arab. lbbd , pluviam emisit donec arena cohaereret ). רגבים , glebae , as Job 21:33, from רגב , Arab. rjb , in the primary signification, which as it seems must be supposed: to bring together, from which the significations branch off, to thicken, become firm ( muraggab , supported), and to be seized with terror.
39 Dost thou hunt for the prey of the lioness
And still the desire of the young lions,
40 When they couch in the dens,
Sit in the thicket lying in wait for prey?
41 Who provideth for the raven its food,
When its young ones cry to God,
They wander about without food?
On the wealth of the Old Testament language in names for the lion, vid., on Job 4:10. לביא can be used of the lioness; the more exact name of the lioness is לביּה , for לביא is = לבי , whence לבאים , lions, and לבאות , lionesses. The lioness is mentioned first, because she has to provide for her young ones ( גּוּרים ); then the lions that are still young, but yet are left to themselves, כּפירים . The phrase מלּא חיּה (comp. חיּה of life that needs nourishment, Job 33:20) is equivalent to מלּא נפשׁ , Proverbs 6:30 ( Psychol . S. 204 ad fin .). The book of Psalms here furnishes parallels to every word: comp. on Job 38:39 , Psalms 104:21; on ישׁחוּ , Psalms 10:10;
(Note: The Semitic is rich in such words as describe the couching posture of beasts of prey lying in wait for their prey, which then in general signify to lie in wait, lurk, wait ( רצד , רבץ , Arab. rbṣ , lbd , wkkd ); Arab. q‛d lh , subsedit ei, i.e., insidiatus est ei , which corresponds to ישׁבו , Job 38:40 , also belongs here, comp. Psalter , i. 500 note.)
on מעונות , lustra , Psalms 104:22 (compared on Job 37:8 already); on סכּה , סך , which is used just in the same way, Psalms 10:9; Jeremiah 25:38. The picture of the crying ravens has its parallel in Psalms 147:9. כּי , quum , is followed by the fut . in the signif. of the praes., as Psalms 11:3. As here, in the Sermon on the Mount in Luke 12:24 the ravens, which by their hoarse croaking make themselves most observed everywhere among birds that seek their food, are mentioned instead of the fowls of heaven.