Job 38:5 - Exposition

Who determined the measures thereof? Everything in creation is orderly, measured, predetermined, governed by law and will The actual weight of the planets is fixed by Divine wisdom, with a view to the stability and enduringness of the solar system (comp. Isaiah 40:12 ). If thou knowest; literally, for thou knowest —an anticipation of the lofty irony which comes out so remarkably in Job 38:21 . Or who hath stretched the line upon it? Human builders determine the dimensions of their constructions by means of a measuring-line ( Ezekiel 40:3-49 , etc.). The writer carries out his metaphor of a building by supposing a measuring-rod to have been used at the creation of the earth also. Some find a trace of the idea in Genesis 1:9 , where they translate קָווּ הַמַּיִם , "Let the waters be marked out with a line. "