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Read the Bible

Contemporary English Version

Job 38:12

Did you ever tell the sun to rise? And did it obey?

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Blessing;   Continents;   God;   Man;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Morning;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Miracles;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - God;   Mystery;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Dayspring;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Providence;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Job, the Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Dayspring;   Knowledge;   Nature;   World;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Dayspring;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Astronomy;   Dayspring;   Text of the Old Testament;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Have you ever in your life commanded the morningor assigned the dawn its place,
Hebrew Names Version
"Have you commanded the morning in your days, And caused the dawn to know its place;
King James Version
Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;
English Standard Version
"Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,
New Century Version
"Have you ever ordered the morning to begin, or shown the dawn where its place was
New English Translation
Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, or made the dawn know its place,
Amplified Bible
"Since your days began, have you ever commanded the morning, And caused the dawn to know its place,
New American Standard Bible
"Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, And made the dawn know its place,
World English Bible
"Have you commanded the morning in your days, And caused the dawn to know its place;
Geneva Bible (1587)
Hast thou commanded the morning since thy dayes? hast thou caused the morning to knowe his place,
Legacy Standard Bible
"Have you ever in your life commanded the morning,And caused the dawn to know its place,
Berean Standard Bible
In your days, have you commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place,
Complete Jewish Bible
"Have you ever in your life called up the dawn and made the morning know its place,
Darby Translation
Hast thou since thy days commanded the morning? hast thou caused the dawn to know its place,
Easy-to-Read Version
"Did you ever in your life command the morning to begin or the day to dawn?
George Lamsa Translation
Have you commanded the dawn since your days began; or do you know the place of the morning;
Good News Translation
Job, have you ever in all your life commanded a day to dawn?
Lexham English Bible
"Have you ever in your life commanded the morning? Have you made the dawn know its place,
Literal Translation
Have you commanded the morning from your days, and caused the dawn to know its place,
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Hast thou geue the mornynge his charge (as soone as thou wast borne) and shewed the dayespringe his place,
American Standard Version
Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days began, And caused the dayspring to know its place;
Bible in Basic English
Have you, from your earliest days, given orders to the morning, or made the dawn conscious of its place;
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days began, and caused the dayspring to know its place;
King James Version (1611)
Hast thou commaunded the morning since thy daies? And caused the day-spring to know his place,
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Hast thou geue the morning his charge since thy dayes, and shewed the day spring his place,
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Or did I order the morning light in thy time; and did the morning star then first see his appointed place;
English Revised Version
Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days began, and caused the dayspring to know its place;
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whethir aftir thi birthe thou comaundist to the bigynnyng of dai, and schewidist to the morewtid his place?
Update Bible Version
Have you commanded the morning since your days [began], [And] caused the sunrise to know its place;
Webster's Bible Translation
Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; [and] caused the day-spring to know its place;
New King James Version
"Have you commanded the morning since your days began, And caused the dawn to know its place,
New Living Translation
"Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east?
New Life Bible
"Have you ever in your life told the morning when to come, and caused the first light of day to know its place,
New Revised Standard
"Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Since thy days began hast thou commanded the morning? or caused the dawn to know its place;
Douay-Rheims Bible
Didst thou since thy birth command the morning, and shew the dawning of the day its place?
Revised Standard Version
"Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,
Young's Literal Translation
Hast thou commanded morning since thy days? Causest thou the dawn to know its place?
THE MESSAGE
"And have you ever ordered Morning, ‘Get up!' told Dawn, ‘Get to work!' So you could seize Earth like a blanket and shake out the wicked like cockroaches? As the sun brings everything to light, brings out all the colors and shapes, The cover of darkness is snatched from the wicked— they're caught in the very act!
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, And caused the dawn to know its place,

Contextual Overview

12 Did you ever tell the sun to rise? And did it obey? 13 Did it take hold of the earth and shake out the wicked like dust from a rug? 14 Early dawn outlines the hills like stitches on clothing or sketches on clay. 15 But its light is too much for those who are evil, and their power is broken. 16 Job, have you ever walked on the ocean floor? 17 Have you seen the gate to the world of the dead? 18 And how large is the earth? Tell me, if you know! 19 Where is the home of light, and where does darkness live? 20 Can you lead them home? 21 I'm certain you must be able to, since you were already born when I created everything.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

commanded: Genesis 1:5, Psalms 74:16, Psalms 136:7, Psalms 136:8, Psalms 148:3-5

since: Job 38:4, Job 38:21, Job 8:9, Job 15:7

the dayspring: Luke 1:78, 2 Peter 1:19

Reciprocal: Genesis 1:14 - Let there Genesis 1:17 - General Job 9:7 - sealeth Job 24:16 - they know Job 25:3 - upon whom Job 38:19 - the way Job 38:24 - General Job 38:33 - canst Psalms 65:8 - outgoings Psalms 104:19 - General Amos 5:8 - and turneth

Cross-References

Genesis 24:67
Isaac took Rebekah into the tent where his mother had lived before she died, and Rebekah became his wife. He loved her and was comforted over the loss of his mother.
Genesis 31:19
Before Rachel left, she stole the household idols while Laban was out shearing his sheep.
Genesis 38:1
About that time Judah left his brothers in the hill country and went to live near his friend Hirah in the town of Adullam.
Genesis 38:4
she named the next one Onan.
Genesis 38:8
So Judah told Onan, "It's your duty to marry Tamar and have a child for your brother."
Genesis 38:23
"If you couldn't find her, we'll just let her keep the things I gave her," Judah answered. "And we'd better forget about the goat, or else we'll look like fools."
Genesis 38:29
Right away his hand went back in, and the other child was born first. The woman then said, "What an opening you've made for yourself!" So they named the baby Perez.
Joshua 15:10
From Baalah the northern border curved west to Mount Seir and then ran along the northern ridge of Mount Jearim, where Chesalon is located. Then it went down to Beth-Shemesh and over to Timnah.
Joshua 15:37
The third region was located in the southern part of the lower foothills, and it had the following sixteen towns with their surrounding villages: Zenan, Hadashah, Migdalgad, Dilan, Mizpeh, Joktheel, Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon, Cabbon, Lahmas, Chitlish, Gederoth, Beth-Dagon, Naamah, and Makkedah.
Judges 14:1
One day, Samson went to Timnah, where he saw a Philistine woman.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days;.... Job had lived to see many a morning, but it never was in his power to command one; he had been in such circumstances as to wish for morning light before it was, but was obliged to wait for it, could not hasten it, or cause it to spring before its time; see Job 7:3; one of the Targums is,

"wast thou in the days of the first creation, and commandedst the morning to be?''

he was not, God was; he was before the first morning, and commanded it into being, Genesis 1:3;

[and] caused the dayspring to know his place; the first spring of light or dawn of day; which though it has a different place every day in the year, as the sun ascends or descends in the signs of the Zodiac, yet it knows and observes its exact place, being taught of God.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days - That is, in thy lifetime hast thou ordered the light of the morning to shine, and directed its beams over the world? God appeals to this as one of the proofs of his majesty and power - and who can look upon the spreading light of the morning and be insensible to the force and beauty of the appeal? The transition from the ocean to the morning may have been partly because the light of the morning is one of the striking exhibitions of the power of God, and partly because in the creation of the world the light of the sun was made to dawn soon after the gathering together of the waters into seas; see Genesis 1:10, Genesis 1:14. The phrase “since thy days,” implies that the laws determining the rising of the sun were fixed long before the time of Job. It is asked whether this had been done since he had an existence, and whether he had an agency in effecting it - implying that it was an ancient and established ordinance long before he was born.

Caused the day-spring to know his place - The day-spring (שׁחר shachar) means the “aurora, the dawn, the morning.” The mention of its “place” here seems to be an allusion to the fact that it does not always occupy the same position. At one season of the year it appears on the equator, at another north, and at another south of it, and is constantly varying its position. Yet it always knows its place. It never fails to appear where by the long-observed laws it ought to appear. It is regular in its motions, and is evidently under the control of an intelligent Being, who has fixed the laws of its appearing.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 38:12. Hast thou commanded the morning — This refers to dawn or morning twilight, occasioned by the refraction of the solar rays by means of the atmosphere; so that we receive the light by degrees, which would otherwise burst at once upon our eyes, and injure, if not destroy, our sight; and by which even the body of the sun himself becomes evident several minutes before he rises above the horizon.

Caused the dayspring to know his place — This seems to refer to the different points in which daybreak appears during the course of the earth's revolution in its orbit; and which variety of points of appearing depends on this annual revolution. For, as the earth goes round the sun every year in the ecliptic, one half of which is on the north side of the equinoctial, and the other half on its south side, the sun appears to change his place every day. These are matters which the wisdom of God alone could plan, and which his power alone could execute.

It may be just necessary to observe that the dawn does not appear, nor the sun rise exactly in the same point of the horizon, two successive days in the whole year, as he declines forty-three degrees north, and forty-three degrees south, of east; beginning on the 21st of March, and ending on the 22d of December; which variations not only produce the places of rising and setting, but also the length of day and night. And by this declination north and south, or approach to and recession from the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, the solar light takes hold of the ends of the earth, Job 38:13, enlightens the arctic and antarctic circles in such a way as it would not do were it always on the equinoctial line; these tropics taking the sun twenty-three and a half degrees north, and as many south, of this line.


 
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