Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, September 11th, 2025
the Week of Proper 18 / Ordinary 23
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Read the Bible

Geneva Bible

Job 38:9

When I made the cloudes as a couering thereof, and darkenesse as the swadeling bands thereof:

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Blessing;   Continents;   Darkness;   God;   Meteorology and Celestial Phenomena;   Swaddle;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Clouds;   Darkness;   Sea, the;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Creation;   Miracles;   Rahab;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Cloud, Cloud of the Lord;   Create, Creation;   God;   Mystery;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Birth;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Providence;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Chaos;   Job, the Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Cloud;   Knowledge;   Nature;   World;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Children;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Swaddle (and forms);  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Cloud;   Swaddle;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Birth;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
when I made the clouds its garmentand total darkness its blanket,
Hebrew Names Version
When I made clouds the garment of it, Thick darkness a swaddling-band for it,
King James Version
When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,
English Standard Version
when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band,
New Century Version
when I made the clouds like a coat for the sea and wrapped it in dark clouds,
New English Translation
when I made the storm clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band,
Amplified Bible
When I made the clouds its garment And thick darkness its swaddling band,
New American Standard Bible
When I made a cloud its garment, And thick darkness its swaddling bands,
World English Bible
When I made clouds the garment of it, Thick darkness a swaddling-band for it,
Legacy Standard Bible
When I made a cloud its garmentAnd dense gloom its swaddling band,
Berean Standard Bible
when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its blanket,
Contemporary English Version
and wrapped it in blankets of thickest fog.
Complete Jewish Bible
when I made the clouds its blanket and dense fog its swaddling cloth,
Darby Translation
When I made the cloud its garment, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it;
Easy-to-Read Version
Who covered it with clouds and wrapped it in darkness?
George Lamsa Translation
When I made the cloud the garment of the earth, and thick darkness a swaddling hand for it,
Good News Translation
It was I who covered the sea with clouds and wrapped it in darkness.
Lexham English Bible
at my making the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band,
Literal Translation
When I made the clouds to clothe it, and darkness its navel-band;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
When I made the cloudes to be a coueringe for it, and swedled it with ye darcke?
American Standard Version
When I made clouds the garment thereof, And thick darkness a swaddling-band for it,
Bible in Basic English
When I made the cloud its robe, and put thick clouds as bands round it,
JPS Old Testament (1917)
When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,
King James Version (1611)
When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thicke darknesse a swadling band for it,
Bishop's Bible (1568)
When I made the cloudes [to be] a covering for it, and swadled it with the darke:
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And I made a cloud its clothing, and swathed it in mist.
English Revised Version
When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whanne Y settide a cloude the hilyng therof, and Y wlappide it with derknesse, as with clothis of yong childhed.
Update Bible Version
When I made clouds the garment thereof, And thick darkness a swaddling-band for it,
Webster's Bible Translation
When I made a cloud its garment, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it,
New King James Version
When I made the clouds its garment, And thick darkness its swaddling band;
New Living Translation
and as I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness?
New Life Bible
I made clouds its clothing, and put much darkness around it.
New Revised Standard
when I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band,
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
When I put a cloud as the garment thereof, and a thick cloud as the swaddling-band thereof;
Douay-Rheims Bible
When I made a cloud the garment thereof, and wrapped it in a mist as in swaddling bands?
Revised Standard Version
when I made clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band,
Young's Literal Translation
In My making a cloud its clothing, And thick darkness its swaddling band,
New American Standard Bible (1995)
When I made a cloud its garment And thick darkness its swaddling band,

Contextual Overview

4 Where wast thou when I layd the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast vnderstanding, 5 Who hath layde the measures thereof, if thou knowest, or who hath stretched the line ouer it: 6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof set: or who layed the corner stone thereof: 7 When the starres of the morning praysed me together, and all the children of God reioyced: 8 Or who hath shut vp the Sea with doores, when it yssued and came foorth as out of the wombe: 9 When I made the cloudes as a couering thereof, and darkenesse as the swadeling bands thereof: 10 When I stablished my commandement vpon it, and set barres and doores, 11 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther, and here shall it stay thy proude waues.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

thick: Genesis 1:2

Reciprocal: Job 26:8 - bindeth up Job 36:29 - the spreadings

Cross-References

Deuteronomy 25:6
And the first borne which she beareth, shall succeede in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel.
Ruth 1:11
But Naomi saide, Turne againe, my daughters: for what cause will you go with me? are there any mo sonnes in my wombe, that they may bee your husbands?
Ruth 4:10
And moreouer, Ruth the Moabitesse the wife of Mahlon, haue I bought to be my wife, to stirre vp the name of the dead vpon his inheritance, and that the name of the dead be not put out from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day.
Job 5:2
Doubtlesse anger killeth the foolish, and enuie slayeth the idiote.
Proverbs 27:4
Anger is cruell, and wrath is raging: but who can stand before enuie?
Titus 3:3
For wee our selues also were in times past vnwise, disobedient, deceiued, seruing the lustes and diuers pleasures, liuing in maliciousnes and enuie, hatefull, and hating one another:
James 3:14
But if ye haue bitter enuying and strife in your hearts, reioyce not, neither be liars against the trueth.
James 3:16
For where enuying and strife is, there is sedition, and all maner of euill workes.
James 4:5
Doe ye thinke that the Scripture sayeth in vaine, The spirit that dwelleth in vs, lusteth after enuie?

Gill's Notes on the Bible

When I made the cloud the garment thereof,.... For this newborn babe, the sea;

and thick darkness a swaddling band for it; which was the case of the sea when it burst out of the bowels of the earth and covered it, for then darkness was upon the face of the deep, a dark, foggy, misty air, Genesis 1:2; and this was before its separation from the land, and in this order it stands in this account; though since, clouds, fogs, and mists, which rise out of the sea, are as garments to it, and cover it at times, and the surrounding atmosphere, as it presses the whole terraqueous globe, and keeps the parts of the earth together, so the waters of the sea from spilling out; and these are the garments and the swaddling bands with which the hands and arms of this big and boisterous creature are wreathed; it is said of the infant in Ezekiel 16:4 that it was neither "salted nor swaddled at all"; but both may be said of the sea; that it is salted is sufficiently known, and that it is swaddled is here affirmed; but who except the Lord Almighty could do this? and who has managed, and still does and can manage, this unruly creature, as easily as a nurse can turn about and swaddle a newborn babe upon her lap.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

When I made the cloud the garment thereof - Referring to the garment in which the new-born infant is wrapped up. This image is one of great beauty. It is that of the vast ocean just coming into being, with a cloud resting upon it and covering it. Thick darkness envelopes it, and it is swathed in mists; compare Genesis 1:2,” And darkness was upon the face of the deep.” The time here referred to is that before the light of the sun arose upon the earth, before the dry land appeared, and before annuals and people had been formed. Then the new-born ocean lay carefully enveloped in clouds and darkness under the guardian care of God. The dark night rested upon it, and the mists hovered over it.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 38:9. When I make the cloud the garment — Alluding to the cloth in which the new-born infant is first received. The cloud was the same to the newly raised vapour, as the above recipient to the new-born child.

And thick darkness a swaddlingband for it — Here is also an allusion to the first dressings of the new-born child: it is swathed in order to support the body, too tender to bear even careful handling without some medium between the hand of the nurse and the flesh of the child. "The image," says Mr. Good, "is exquisitely maintained: the new-born ocean is represented as issuing from the womb of chaos; and its dress is that of the new-born infant."

There is here an allusion also to the creation, as described in Genesis 1:1-2. Darkness is there said to be on the face of the DEEP. Here it is said, the thick darkness was a swaddlingband for the new-born SEA.


 
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