He has compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.
He has compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.
He hath described a boundary upon the face of the waters, Unto the confines of light and darkness.
By him a circle is marked out on the face of the waters, to the limits of the light and the dark.
He hath encompassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.
He has described a boundary on the surface of the waters, and to the confines of light and darkness.
He hath described a boundary upon the face of the waters, unto the confines of light and darkness.
He hath compassed the waters with bounds - Perhaps this refers merely to the circle of the horizon, the line that terminates light and commences darkness, called here עד תכלית אור עם חשך ad tachlith or im chosech, "until the completion of light with darkness." Or, if we take תכלית tachlith here to be the same with תכלת techeleth, Exodus 25:4, and elsewhere, which we translate blue, it may mean that sombre sky-blue appearance of the horizon at the time of twilight, i.e., between light and darkness; the line where the one is terminating and the other commencing. Or, He so circumscribes the waters, retaining them in their own place, that they shall not be able to overflow the earth until day and night, that is, time itself, come to an end.
He hath compassed the waters with bounds - The word rendered "compassed" (חוּג chûg), means to describe a circle - to mark out with a compass; and the reference is to the form of the horizon, which appears as a circle, and which seems to be marked out with a compass. A similar idea Milton has beautifully expressed in his account of the creation:
"Then staid the fervid wheels, and in his hand
He took the golden compasses, prepared
In God's eternal store, to circumscribe
This universe, and all created things:
One foot he centered, and the other turned
Round through the vast profundity obscure;
And said, 'Thus far extend thy bounds,
This be thy just cirrumference, O world! '"
Paradise Lost, B. vii.
In the passage before us, we have a statement of the ancient views of geography, and of the outer limits of the world. The earth was regarded as a circular plane, surrounded by waters, and those waters encompassed with perpetual night. This region of night - this outer limit of the world, was regarded as at the outer verge of the celestial hemisphere, and on this the concave of heaven seemed to rest. See Virgil, Geor. i.247.
Illie, ut perhibent, aut intempesta silet nox
Semper, et obtenta densantur, nocte tenebrae;
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