תִּ֭תְהַפֵּךְ כְּחֹ֣מֶר חוֹתָ֑ם וְ֝יִֽתְיַצְּב֗וּ כְּמ֣וֹ לְבֽוּשׁ
It is changed as clay under the seal, And stands forth as a garment.
World English Bible · Public Domain
It is changed as clay under the seal, And stands forth as a garment.
One document with this verse’s original text, its word-by-word gloss line, the meaning frame, cross-references with their text, attributed commentary, and full source and license credits — printable, and it pastes into notes with its structure intact.
This verse Autodidact and up
A passage Seminary Student
Up to 50 verses in one chapter. A passage sheet keeps up to 6 commentary sources and 12 cross-references per verse, in the order this page ranks them, and says so on the sheet whenever that leaves anything out. Ask for a single verse and you get the Autodidact verse sheet above.
Everything on this page stays free to read, with no account — the sheet is a download of what is already on screen, not access to it.
The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.
Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.
Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.
It is changed as clay under the seal, And stands forth as a garment.
It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.
It is changed like clay a seal, and they stand out like a garment.
unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).
Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.
It is changed as clay under the seal, And stands forth as a garment.
The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.
The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.
It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.
It is changed as clay under the seal; And `all things' stand forth as a garment:
It is changed as clay under the seal; and all things stand forth as a garment:
It is turned as clay to facion, and all stand vp as a garment.
The seal shall be restored as clay, and shall stand as a garment:
It turneth itself as clay of a seal And they station themselves as clothed.
It turns itself as clay of a seal || And they station themselves as clothed.
The earth is changed in appearance like clay changes under a seal; all things on it stand out clearly like the folds of a piece of clothing.
It is changed like clay a seal, and they stand out like a garment.
It is changed like the signet-clay; and [all things] stand forth as in a garment:
It is changed as clay under the seal, and presented as a garment.
It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.
The earth is changed like clay under a seal; its features stand out like a crumpled garment.
It is changed like wet earth under a stamp, and is coloured like a robe;
It is changed as clay under the seal; and they stand as a garment.
Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).
More ways to search: Search by grammar → Find every occurrence → Compare this word →
Practice this passage: Drill this verse → Learn its vocabulary →
These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →
Notable vocabulary
The rarest word here is חוֹתָ֑ם seal H2368 — appearing just 14 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.
Shared distinctive vocabulary
חוֹתָ֑ם seal H2368 occurs in 13 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:
Grammatical profile
Verb forms
Hebrew & Septuagint length
In English translation the verse runs 14 words from the Hebrew and 24 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the Septuagint runs noticeably longer here. See the side-by-side →
A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.
Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.
Topical passages linked to Job 38:14 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.
Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).
The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.
Here the Septuagint runs noticeably longer than the Hebrew — LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) 24 words vs World English Bible 14. A rough length comparison of the two English translations, not a word-level alignment — read both below.
These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.
תִּ֭תְהַפֵּךְ כְּחֹ֣מֶר חוֹתָ֑ם וְ֝יִֽתְיַצְּב֗וּ כְּמ֣וֹ לְבֽוּשׁ
It is changed as clay under the seal, And stands forth as a garment.
World English Bible · Public Domain
ἦ σύ λαμβάνω γῆ πηλός πλάσσω ζῷον καί λαλητός αὐτός τίθημι ἐπί γῆ
Or did you take clay of the ground, and form a living creature, and set it with the power of speech upon the earth?
LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain
On this verse, Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓
Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →
Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.
Job, in the Wisdom, opens this verse with 6 words (6 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is chôwthâm (“seal”). The Greek Septuagint runs longer here. A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.
Commentary
Notes on Job 38:14 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.
Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →
Trapp's Complete Commentary
John Trapp
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Joseph Benson's Commentary
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes
Tyndale Open Resources
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Geneva Bible (1599)
Geneva Bible translators
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke's Commentary
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill's Exposition
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Matthew Poole's English Annotations
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
Daniel D. Whedon
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Wesley's Explanatory Notes
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
unfoldingWord translationNotes
Door43 World Missions Community
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Rashi
Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)
Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.