Job 38:20 - Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Bible Comments

That thou shouldest take it to the bounds thereof - Margin, “or, at.” The sense seems to be this: God asks Job whether he was so well acquainted with the sources of light, and the place where it dwelt, that he could take it under his guidance and reconduct it to its place of abode.

And that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof? - The same idea is repeated here. Light has a home; a place of abode. It was far distant - in some region unknown to man. Did Job know the way in which it came, and the place where it dwelt so well, that he could conduct it back again to its own dwelling? Umbreit, Noyes, and Herder, suppose that this is to be understood ironically.

“For thou hast reached its boundaries!

For then knowest the path to its dwelling!”

But it has been commonly regarded as a question, and thus understood it accords better with the connection.

Job 38:20

20 That thou shouldest take it to the bounde thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?