Job 38:5
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
Who has laid the measures thereof, if you know? or who has stretched the line on it?
American King James Version (AKJV)
Who has laid the measures thereof, if you know? or who has stretched the line on it?
American Standard Version (ASV)
Who determined the measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who stretched the line upon it?
Basic English Translation (BBE)
By whom were its measures fixed? Say, if you have wisdom; or by whom was the line stretched out over it?
Webster's Revision
Who hath laid the measures of it, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
World English Bible
Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it?
English Revised Version (ERV)
Who determined the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who stretched the line upon it?
Clarke's Job 38:5 Bible Commentary
Who hath laid the measures thereof - Who hath adjusted its polar and equatorial distances from the center?
Who hath stretched the line - Who hath formed its zones and its great circles, and adjusted the whole of its magnitude and gravity to the orbit in which it was to move, as well as its distance from that great center about which it was to revolve? These questions show the difficulty of the subject; and that there was an unfathomable depth of counsel and design in the formation of the earth.
Barnes's Job 38:5 Bible Commentary
Who hath laid the measures thereof - That is, as an architect applies his measures when he rears a house.
If thou knowest - Or rather, "for thou knowest." The expression is wholly ironical, and is designed to rebuke Job's pretensions of being able to explain the divine administration.
Or who hath stretched the line upon it - As a carpenter uses a line to mark out his work; see the notes at Isaiah 28:17. The earth is represented as a building, the plan of which was laid out beforehand, and which was then made according to the sketch of the architect. It is not, therefore, the work of chance or fate. It is laid out and constructed according to a wise plan, and in a method evincing infinite skill.
Wesley's Job 38:5 Bible Commentary
38:5 Measures - Who hath prescribed how long and broad and deep it should be. Line - the measuring line to regulate all its dimensions.