Bible Strands
Job 38:8
Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God speaks to Job from a whirlwind, continuing His direct interrogation about the origins of creation. This utterance immediately follows the cosmic celebration of the morning stars and divine beings in Job 38:7.
The words — The Hebrew verb וַ/יָּ֣סֶךְ (va/i.Ya.sekh) literally means "he shut off" or "enclosed," and בִּ/דְלָתַ֣יִם (bi/d.la.Ta.yim) translates to "with doors." The text states God physically barred the sea's emergence as it burst forth from its womb.
The thread — This motif of divine containment for the waters appears in Genesis 1:9 where God gathers the waters, Proverbs 8:29 where He sets a boundary so waters do not cross His command, and Jeremiah 5:22 which references the One who fixed the sand as a boundary.
Why it lands — The verse demands acknowledgment that natural forces operate only within divinely established limits. It requires the reader to accept human inability to comprehend or control the mechanisms of creation.
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
Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
Cross-references
- 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.
- Proverbs 8:29 when He set a boundary for the sea, so that the waters would not surpass His command, when He marked out the foundations of 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.
- Psalms 104:8 the mountains rose and the valleys sank to the place You assigned for them—
- Psalms 33:7 He piles up the waters of the sea; He puts the depths into storehouses.
- Job 38:10 when I fixed its boundaries and set in place its bars and doors,