Bible Strands
Job 38:10
when I fixed its boundaries and set in place its bars and doors,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God speaks to Job from the whirlwind, answering Job’s earlier questions by describing the formation of the sea.
The words — The Hebrew אֶשְׁבֹּר ('eshbor) means "I broke," and בְּרִיחַ (beriyach) translates to "bar."
The thread — This motif of fixed maritime limits runs through Job 26:10, Psalms 104:9, and Jeremiah 5:22.
Why it lands — The text states that the Creator established physical boundaries and restraining mechanisms for the sea, which requires the reader to acknowledge that divine authority imposes strict limits on natural forces and human inquiry.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,
Cross-references
- Psalms 104:9 You set a boundary they cannot cross, that they may never again cover the earth.
- Jeremiah 5:22 Do you not fear Me?” declares the LORD. “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot cross it.
- Job 26:10 He has inscribed a horizon on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.
- Psalms 33:7 He piles up the waters of the sea; He puts the depths into storehouses.
- Genesis 1:9 And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear.” And it was so.
- Genesis 9:15 I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.