Psalmi 38:4

Clementine Latin Vulgate

Ubi eras quando ponebam fundamenta terræ ? indica mihi, si habes intelligentiam.

Parallel Translations

Jerome's Latin Vulgate (405)
Ubi eras quando ponebam fundamenta terr�?
indica mihi, si habes intelligentiam.

Nova Vulgata (1979)
Ubi eras, quando ponebam fundamenta terrae? Indica mihi, si habes intellegentiam.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Where: Proverbs 8:22, Proverbs 8:29, Proverbs 8:30, Proverbs 30:4

I: Genesis 1:1, Psalms 102:25, Psalms 104:5, Hebrews 1:2, Hebrews 1:10

hast: Heb. knowest

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 2:8 - the pillars Job 9:6 - the pillars Job 15:7 - or wast thou Job 34:13 - Who hath given Job 37:15 - Dost Job 38:12 - since Job 38:21 - General Psalms 18:15 - foundations Psalms 24:2 - For Psalms 90:2 - Before Psalms 119:90 - thou hast Proverbs 8:25 - General Proverbs 25:2 - the glory Ecclesiastes 11:5 - even Isaiah 24:23 - before his ancients gloriously Isaiah 40:12 - measured Isaiah 40:22 - stretcheth Jeremiah 10:12 - hath made Jeremiah 27:5 - made Amos 4:13 - he that Jonah 2:6 - the earth

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?.... The earth has foundations, and such firm ones that it cannot be moved; but what are they, since it is hung in the air on nothing! No other than the power and will of God, who laid these foundations, and the Son of God, who has created and upholds all things by the word of his power, Hebrews 1:3. Where was Job then? In a state of nothingness, a mere nonentity: he was not present when this amazing work of nature was done, and saw not how the Lord went about it; and yet takes upon him to dive into the secret works and ways of Providence, for which he is rebuked by this question and the following;

declare, if thou hast understanding: Job had the understanding of a man in things natural and civil, and of a good man in things spiritual and divine; but he had no understanding of this, of what he is questioned about; could not declare in what place he was, and where he stood, when the earth was founded.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? - The first appeal is to the creation. The question here, “Where wast thou?” implies that Job was not present. He had not then an existence. He could not, therefore, have aided God, or counselled him, or understood what he was doing. How presumptuous, therefore, it was in one so short-lived to sit in judgment on the doings of him who had formed the world! How little could he expect to be able to know of him! The expression, “laid the foundations of the earth,” is taken from building an edifice. The foundations are first laid, and the super-structure is then reared. It is a poetic image, and is not designed to give any intimation about the actual process by which the earth was made, or the manner in which it is sustained.

If thou hast understanding - Margin, as in Hebrew “if thou knowest.” That is, “Declare how it was done. Explain the manner in which the earth was formed and fixed in its place, and by which the beautiful world grew up under the hand of God.” If Job could not do this, what presumption was it to speak as he had done of the divine adminisitration!

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 38:4. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? — Thou hast a limited and derived being; thou art only of yesterday; what canst thou know? Didst thou see me create the world?