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Read the Bible
THE MESSAGE
Job 38:12
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- BridgewayEncyclopedias:
- InternationalParallel Translations
Have you ever in your life commanded the morningor assigned the dawn its place,
"Have you commanded the morning in your days, And caused the dawn to know its place;
Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;
"Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,
"Have you ever ordered the morning to begin, or shown the dawn where its place was
Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, or made the dawn know its place,
"Since your days began, have you ever commanded the morning, And caused the dawn to know its place,
"Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, And made the dawn know its place,
"Have you commanded the morning in your days, And caused the dawn to know its place;
Hast thou commanded the morning since thy dayes? hast thou caused the morning to knowe his place,
"Have you ever in your life commanded the morning,And caused the dawn to know its place,
In your days, have you commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place,
Did you ever tell the sun to rise? And did it obey?
"Have you ever in your life called up the dawn and made the morning know its place,
Hast thou since thy days commanded the morning? hast thou caused the dawn to know its place,
"Did you ever in your life command the morning to begin or the day to dawn?
Have you commanded the dawn since your days began; or do you know the place of the morning;
Job, have you ever in all your life commanded a day to dawn?
"Have you ever in your life commanded the morning? Have you made the dawn know its place,
Have you commanded the morning from your days, and caused the dawn to know its place,
Hast thou geue the mornynge his charge (as soone as thou wast borne) and shewed the dayespringe his place,
Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days began, And caused the dayspring to know its place;
Have you, from your earliest days, given orders to the morning, or made the dawn conscious of its place;
Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days began, and caused the dayspring to know its place;
Hast thou commaunded the morning since thy daies? And caused the day-spring to know his place,
Hast thou geue the morning his charge since thy dayes, and shewed the day spring his place,
Or did I order the morning light in thy time; and did the morning star then first see his appointed place;
Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days began, and caused the dayspring to know its place;
Whethir aftir thi birthe thou comaundist to the bigynnyng of dai, and schewidist to the morewtid his place?
Have you commanded the morning since your days [began], [And] caused the sunrise to know its place;
Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; [and] caused the day-spring to know its place;
"Have you commanded the morning since your days began, And caused the dawn to know its place,
"Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east?
"Have you ever in your life told the morning when to come, and caused the first light of day to know its place,
"Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,
Since thy days began hast thou commanded the morning? or caused the dawn to know its place;
Didst thou since thy birth command the morning, and shew the dawning of the day its place?
"Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,
Hast thou commanded morning since thy days? Causest thou the dawn to know its place?
"Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, And caused the dawn to know its place,
Contextual Overview
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
Laban was off shearing sheep. Rachel stole her father's household gods. And Jacob had concealed his plans so well that Laban the Aramean had no idea what was going on—he was totally in the dark. Jacob got away with everything he had and was soon across the Euphrates headed for the hill country of Gilead.
About that time, Judah separated from his brothers and hooked up with a man in Adullam named Hirah. While there, Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua. He married her, they went to bed, she became pregnant and had a son named Er. She got pregnant again and had a son named Onan. She had still another son; she named this one Shelah. They were living at Kezib when she had him.
So Judah told Onan, "Go and sleep with your brother's widow; it's the duty of a brother-in-law to keep your brother's line alive." But Onan knew that the child wouldn't be his, so whenever he slept with his brother's widow he spilled his semen on the ground so he wouldn't produce a child for his brother. God was much offended by what he did and also took his life.
Judah said, "Let her have it then. If we keep looking, everyone will be poking fun at us. I kept my part of the bargain—I sent the kid goat but you couldn't find her."
Samson went down to Timnah. There in Timnah a woman caught his eye, a Philistine girl. He came back and told his father and mother, "I saw a woman in Timnah, a Philistine girl; get her for me as my wife."
When Abigail got home she found Nabal presiding over a huge banquet. He was in high spirits—and very, very drunk. So she didn't tell him anything of what she'd done until morning. But in the morning, after Nabal had sobered up, she told him the whole story. Right then and there he had a heart attack and fell into a coma. About ten days later God finished him off and he died.
Some time later, this happened: Absalom, David's son, had a sister who was very attractive. Her name was Tamar. Amnon, also David's son, was in love with her. Amnon was obsessed with his sister Tamar to the point of making himself sick over her. She was a virgin, so he couldn't see how he could get his hands on her. Amnon had a good friend, Jonadab, the son of David's brother Shimeah. Jonadab was exceptionally streetwise. He said to Amnon, "Why are you moping around like this, day after day—you, the son of the king! Tell me what's eating at you." "In a word, Tamar," said Amnon. "My brother Absalom's sister. I'm in love with her." "Here's what you do," said Jonadab. "Go to bed and pretend you're sick. When your father comes to visit you, say, ‘Have my sister Tamar come and prepare some supper for me here where I can watch her and she can feed me.'" So Amnon took to his bed and acted sick. When the king came to visit, Amnon said, "Would you do me a favor? Have my sister Tamar come and make some nourishing dumplings here where I can watch her and be fed by her." David sent word to Tamar who was home at the time: "Go to the house of your brother Amnon and prepare a meal for him." So Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house. She took dough, kneaded it, formed it into dumplings, and cooked them while he watched from his bed. But when she took the cooking pot and served him, he wouldn't eat. Amnon said, "Clear everyone out of the house," and they all cleared out. Then he said to Tamar, "Bring the food into my bedroom, where we can eat in privacy." She took the nourishing dumplings she had prepared and brought them to her brother Amnon in his bedroom. But when she got ready to feed him, he grabbed her and said, "Come to bed with me, sister!" "No, brother!" she said, "Don't hurt me! This kind of thing isn't done in Israel! Don't do this terrible thing! Where could I ever show my face? And you—you'll be out on the street in disgrace. Oh, please! Speak to the king—he'll let you marry me." But he wouldn't listen. Being much stronger than she, he raped her. No sooner had Amnon raped her than he hated her—an immense hatred. The hatred that he felt for her was greater than the love he'd had for her. "Get up," he said, "and get out!" "Oh no, brother," she said. "Please! This is an even worse evil than what you just did to me!" But he wouldn't listen to her. He called for his valet. "Get rid of this woman. Get her out of my sight! And lock the door after her." The valet threw her out and locked the door behind her. She was wearing a long-sleeved gown. (That's how virgin princesses used to dress from early adolescence on.) Tamar poured ashes on her head, then she ripped the long-sleeved gown, held her head in her hands, and walked away, sobbing as she went. Her brother Absalom said to her, "Has your brother Amnon had his way with you? Now, my dear sister, let's keep it quiet—a family matter. He is, after all, your brother. Don't take this so hard." Tamar lived in her brother Absalom's home, bitter and desolate. King David heard the whole story and was enraged, but he didn't discipline Amnon. David doted on him because he was his firstborn. Absalom quit speaking to Amnon—not a word, whether good or bad—because he hated him for violating his sister Tamar. Two years went by. One day Absalom threw a sheep-shearing party in Baal Hazor in the vicinity of Ephraim and invited all the king's sons. He also went to the king and invited him. "Look, I'm throwing a sheep-shearing party. Come, and bring your servants." But the king said, "No, son—not this time, and not the whole household. We'd just be a burden to you." Absalom pushed, but David wouldn't budge. But he did give him his blessing. Then Absalom said, "Well, if you won't come, at least let my brother Amnon come." "And why," said the king, "should he go with you?" But Absalom was so insistent that he gave in and let Amnon and all the rest of the king's sons go. Absalom prepared a banquet fit for a king. Then he instructed his servants, "Look sharp, now. When Amnon is well into the sauce and feeling no pain, and I give the order ‘Strike Amnon,' kill him. And don't be afraid—I'm the one giving the command. Courage! You can do it!" Absalom's servants did to Amnon exactly what their master ordered. All the king's sons got out as fast as they could, jumped on their mules, and rode off. While they were still on the road, a rumor came to the king: "Absalom just killed all the king's sons—not one is left!" The king stood up, ripped his clothes to shreds, and threw himself on the floor. All his servants who were standing around at the time did the same. Just then, Jonadab, his brother Shimeah's son, stepped up. "My master must not think that all the young men, the king's sons, are dead. Only Amnon is dead. This happened because of Absalom's outrage since the day that Amnon violated his sister Tamar. So my master, the king, mustn't make things worse than they are, thinking that all your sons are dead. Only Amnon is dead." Absalom fled. Just then the sentry on duty looked up and saw a cloud of dust on the road from Horonaim alongside the mountain. He came and told the king, "I've just seen a bunch of men on the Horonaim road, coming around the mountain." Then Jonadab exclaimed to the king, "See! It's the king's sons coming, just as I said!" He had no sooner said the words than the king's sons burst in—loud laments and weeping! The king joined in, along with all the servants—loud weeping, many tears. David mourned the death of his son a long time. When Absalom fled, he went to Talmai son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. He was there three years. The king finally gave up trying to get back at Absalom. He had come to terms with Amnon's death.
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.
