Bible Strands
Job 38:18
Have you surveyed the extent of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God speaks to Job during the whirlwind address, immediately after questioning him about the gates of death and before asking where the way to the home of light lies.
The words — הִתְבֹּנַנְתָּ (Hit.bo.nan.ta) literally means “have you shown yourself attentive,” and רַחֲבֵי־אָרֶץ (ra.cha.vei-'A.retz) denotes “the broad spaces of the earth.”
The thread — The theme of measuring or surveying the earth’s full extent recurs in Psalms 89:11, Jeremiah 31:37, and Revelation 20:9.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to confront the limits of human knowledge regarding creation’s dimensions before presuming to comprehend divine governance.
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
Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all.
Cross-references
- Psalms 89:11 The heavens are Yours, and also the earth. The earth and its fullness You founded.
- Jeremiah 31:37 This is what the LORD says: “Only if the heavens above could be measured and the foundations of the earth below searched out would I reject all of Israel’s descendants because of all they have done,” declares the LORD.
- Revelation 20:9 And they marched across the broad expanse of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. But fire came down from heaven and consumed them.
- Job 28:24 For He looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.
- Psalms 74:17 You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and winter.
- Isaiah 40:28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary; His understanding is beyond searching out.