Job 38:18

Job 38:18 Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all.

Ver. 18. Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth?] Heb. the breadths, i.e. the length also and circumference thereof. Geographers define the length of the earth from east to west, the breadth from north to south; and they have their suppurations and conjectures, Frigidae sunt et leves coniecturae (Mercer). Peucer and others tell us, that if there were a path made round the earth, an able footman might easily go it in 900 days. Which if he could, yet what mortal man, though he should live 900 years, could ever visit and view the whole face, nature, and dimension of the earth, wherein are so many deserts and bogs impassable? Or, what Job can give a reason why God made the earth of such a length and breadth, and no more, when he could so easily have done it? How much less can he of God’s secret and unsearchable judgments? and why should he so desire to know the cause wherefore he is afflicted?

Declare if thou knowest it all] Since a great part of it is uninhabited; and the sea surroundeth it as a girdle.

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.

Job 38:18. Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? — Nay, dost thou so much as understand the extent and all the parts of the earth, and the state and quality of all countries, and of the men and things in them? Declare, if thou knowest it all — Give me an answer to these questions, which it is far more easy to do than to answer many other questions which I could put to thee about my secret counsels, and providences, and my reasons for dealing with thee as I do.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hast thou--as God doth (Job 28:24).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 18. The breadth of the earth?] At that time the circumference of the globe was not known, because the earth itself was supposed to be a vast extended plain, bordered all round with the ocean and the sky.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(18) Perceived.—Or rather, perhaps, comprehended.

The breadth of the earth.—The earth being conceived of as a vast plain (comp. Job_38:13). Unscientific as all this language is, it is not a little remarkable that the majestic sublimity of it is not one whit affected thereby.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18. Final query, Whether Job surveyed the whole earth, and comprehended its breadth.

hast thou perceived] Rather perhaps, didst thou comprehend?

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.

Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth?.... Which may be put for all the dimensions of it, length, breadth, diameter, and circumference, but especially it regards the surface of it, and the measurement of that; hast thou gone over the whole face of the earth and measured it, all its parts, its hills and dales, rocks and mountains, and took a survey of all the cities, towns and villages, woods, forests, fountains, rivers, &c? no; if a man lived as long as Methuselah, and spent all his days in this way, he could never be able to do it; and some parts are inaccessible, and not to be measured by the most skilful geometer;

declare, if thou knowest it all; the whole earth and every part of it, and all that is in it. Whether the other hemisphere and the antipodes were known in Job's time is a question; however not America, or the new world, which is a late discovery; and even now, in our most exact maps of the world, some parts are marked with "terra incognita", the unknown land.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? - How far the earth extends. To see the force of this, we must remember that the early conception of the earth was that it was a vast plain, and that in the time of Job its limits were unknown. One of the earliest and most obvious inquiries would naturally be, What was the extent of the earth? By what was it bounded? And what was the character of the regions beyond those which were then known? All this was hidden from man at that time, and God, therefore, asks with emphasis whether Job had been able to determine this great inquiry. The knowledge of this is put on the same foundation as that of the depths of the sea, and of the dark regions of the dead, and in the time of Job the one was as much unknown as the other. God, who knew all this, must, therefore, be infinitely exalted above man.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Dost thou exactly know the whole compass and all parts of the earth, and the state and quality of all countries, and of the men and things in them? Give me an answer to these questions, which is far more easy to do, than to answer me to many other questions which I could put to thee about my secret counsels and providences, and the reasons of my dealing with thee as I do.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

18. The breadth of the earth — Plural, “breadths.” However far and whichever way he may travel, man never perceives the breadth of the earth. It is ever fleeing from him. This, then, also belongs to the unknown.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? literally, the breadths; i.e. the dimensions generally. The exact dimensions are probably not even yet known. Job can scarcely have had any conception of them. To him the earth was probably a vast plain, extended, he knew not how far, in all directions. Declare if thou knowest it all (comp. vers. 4, 5, and 21).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Breadth - The whole compass and all the parts of it?

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.