to describe a circle · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
waters
פְּנֵיpe.nei-
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · noun, common masculine plural construct
bounds
חֹֽקchok-
H2706
an enactment · noun, common masculine singular absolute
day
א֣וֹר'or
H216
illumination or (concrete) luminary (in every sense · noun, common feminine singular absolute
night
חֹֽשֶׁךְCho.shekh
H2822
the dark · noun, common masculine singular absolute
end
תַּכְלִ֖יתtakh.Lit
H8503
completion · noun, common feminine singular construct
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Proverbs 8:29 When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
Job 38:8-11 Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
Jeremiah 5:22 Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decre…
Psalms 33:7 He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.
Genesis 8:22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Psalms 104:6-9 Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains.
Isaiah 54:9-10 For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn tha…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 26:5–end
The truth received a great deal of light from the dispute between Job and his friends concerning those points about which they differed; but now they are upon a subject in which they were all agreed, the infinite glory and power of God. How does truth triumph, and how brightly does it shine, when there appears no other strife between the contenders than which shall speak most highly and honourably of God and be most copious in showing forth his praise! It were well if all disputes about matters of religion might end thus, in glorifying God as Lord of all, and our Lord, with one mind and one mouth (Rom 15:6); for to that we have all attained, in that we are all agreed.
I. Many illustrious ins…
Rather, "He hath drawn a circular bound round the waters" (Pro 8:27; Psa 104:9). The horizon seems a circle. Indication is given of the globular form of the earth.
until the day, &c.--to the confines of light and darkness. When the light falls on our horizon, the other hemisphere is dark. UMBREIT and MAURER translate "He has most perfectly (literally, to perfection) drawn the bound (taken from the first clause) between light and darkness" (compare Gen 1:4, Gen 1:6, Gen 1:9): where the bounding of the light from darkness is similarly brought into proximity with the bounding of the waters.
John Gill on Job 26:10
He hath compassed the waters with bounds,.... Not the waters above the firmament, compassed by that, as if Job was contemplating on and discoursing about what is done in the heavens above; though the Targum seems to incline to this sense, paraphrasing the words,
"he hath decreed that the firmament should be placed upon the face of the waters unto the end of light, with darkness;''
but the waters of the sea, Job descending now to consider the waters of the great deep, and the wonderful restraint that is laid upon them; which is as astonishing as the binding up of the waters in the clouds without being rent by them; for this vast and unwieldy body of waters in the ocean Jehovah manages with…
"He has spread his law everywhere on the surface of the waters. Among the peoples. "How far does the light end; Until the end of this life, that is to say, until the end of the world, or until consummated, that is to say, perfected those to whom it has been said "You were once darkness, you are now light in the Lord (2). "
So God has gathered the waters that were spread on earth at the beginning and has imposed a limit on them. His command has surrounded them like a circle, so that they might not exceed it. He has set a "boundary between light and darkness." This means that he has ordered the light and the darkness to occupy their given times in good harmony and not to prevail on one another.
He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the light and darkness come to an end. Because very often in Holy Writ, as we said above, by the name of 'waters' peoples are denoted; the Lord compasseth the waters with bounds; because He so tempers the knowledge of mankind: that until the successions of the changing seasons pass away, it cannot perfectly attain to the knowledge of the Interior Brightness. But if by the name of 'light' we understand the righteous, and by the designation of 'darkness' sinners; (and hence Paul saith, For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light,) there is nothing to hinder this same thing that we said being understood, 'that the perfect knowledge of eternity is vouchsafed to no one, until the course of the righteous and of the unrighteous is brought to an end.'
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Continents · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Providence Of God, The · Is exercised in: Preserving the course of nature — Is exercised in: Preserving the course of nature
Science · Observations of, and — Observations of, and
Sea, The · God: Set bounds to, by a perpetual decree — God: Set bounds to, by a perpetual decree
Time · End of — End of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Keil & Delitzsch on Job 26:8-10
8 He bindeth up the waters in His clouds,
Without the clouds being rent under their burden.
9 He enshroudeth the face of His throne,
Spreading His clouds upon it.
10 He compasseth the face of the waters with bounds,
To the boundary between light and darkness.
The clouds consist of masses of water rolled together, which, if they were suddenly set free, would deluge the ground; but the omnipotence of God holds the waters together in the hollow of the clouds (צרר, Milel, according to a recognised law, although it is also found in Codd. accented as Milra, but contrary to the Masora), so that they do not burst asunder under the burden of the waters (תּחתּם); by which nothing more nor less is mean…
created the horizon: See Gen 1:6-10; Ps 104:6-9; Prov 8:29.
Rashi on Job 26:10
He encircled a boundary (compas in French), an expression of (Isa. 44: 13), “and with a compass (ובמחוגה) he rounds it.” [He surrounded it with sand for the sand to be a circle for it. Does not appear in all editions.] The word חֹק denotes a perpetual boundary. The sea will not cross that circle until light and dark come to an end.
