The Meaning of Job 38:2 Explained

Job 38:2

KJV: Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

YLT: Who is this -- darkening counsel, By words without knowledge?

Darby: Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

ASV: Who is this that darkeneth counsel By words without knowledge?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Who [is] this that darkeneth  counsel  by words  without knowledge? 

What does Job 38:2 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 38:1-18 - Divine Power And Human Ignorance
When the storm had ceased and the thunder was hushed, a voice spoke out of the golden splendor of the sky. See Job 37:21-22. Job had challenged God to answer him and now he is taken at his word. We recall Horeb's ancient cave, where, after wind and earthquake, there came a sound of gentle stillness. "Arise," said the Eternal to Job, "and gird thyself," Job 38:3. In after years, under similar circumstances, the Spirit entered Ezekiel to strengthen him. Surely some such strengthening was forthwith given the patriarch!
A sublime series of questions is now addressed to him, not by a God of judgment and wrath, but by a Father arguing and pleading with His child and pointing out two things: first, the inability of mortal man to understand the ways of God; and second, the minuteness and tenderness of God's providence. Job had thought of Him as remote, but He is near and is ordering all things wisely and lovingly. Can He forget His child? [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 38

1  God challenges Job to answer
4  God, by his mighty works, convinces Job of ignorance
31  and weakness

What do the individual words in Job 38:2 mean?

who [is] this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge
מִ֤י זֶ֨ה ׀ מַחְשִׁ֖יךְ עֵצָ֥ה בְמִלִּ֗ין בְּֽלִי־ ؟ דָֽעַת

מִ֤י  who  [is] 
Parse: Interrogative
Root: מִי  
Sense: who?, whose?, whom?, would that, whoever, whosoever.
זֶ֨ה ׀  this 
Parse: Pronoun, masculine singular
Root: זֶה  
Sense: this, this one, here, which, this … that, the one … the other, another, such.
מַחְשִׁ֖יךְ  who  darkens 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Participle, masculine singular
Root: חָשַׁךְ 
Sense: to be or become dark, grow dim, be darkened, be black, be hidden.
עֵצָ֥ה  counsel 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: עֵצָה 
Sense: counsel, advice, purpose.
בְמִלִּ֗ין  by  words 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, feminine plural
Root: מִלָּה  
Sense: word, speech, utterance.
בְּֽלִי־  without 
Parse: Adverb
Root: בְּלִי 
Sense: wearing out adv of negation.
؟ דָֽעַת  knowledge 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: דַּעַת 
Sense: knowledge.