The Meaning of Job 38:9 Explained

Job 38:9

KJV: When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,

YLT: In My making a cloud its clothing, And thick darkness its swaddling band,

Darby: When I made the cloud its garment, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it;

ASV: When I made clouds the garment thereof, And thick darkness a swaddling-band for it,

KJV Reverse Interlinear

When I made  the cloud  the garment  thereof, and thick darkness  a swaddlingband  for it, 

What does Job 38:9 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 38:9 mean?

when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band
בְּשׂוּמִ֣י עָנָ֣ן לְבֻשׁ֑וֹ וַ֝עֲרָפֶ֗ל חֲתֻלָּתֽוֹ

בְּשׂוּמִ֣י  when  I  made 
Parse: Preposition-b, Verb, Qal, Infinitive construct, first person common singular
Root: שׂוּמָה 
Sense: to put, place, set, appoint, make.
עָנָ֣ן  the  clouds 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: עָנָן  
Sense: cloud, cloudy, cloud-mass.
לְבֻשׁ֑וֹ  its  garment 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: לָבוּשׁ 
Sense: clothing, garment, apparel, raiment.
וַ֝עֲרָפֶ֗ל  and  thick  darkness 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, masculine singular
Root: עֲרָפֶל  
Sense: cloud, heavy or dark cloud, darkness, gross darkness, thick darkness.
חֲתֻלָּתֽוֹ  its  swaddling  band 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: חֲתֻלָּה  
Sense: swaddling-band, navel-band.

What are the major concepts related to Job 38:9?

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