38:8 “Who shut up 1 the sea with doors
when it burst forth, 2 coming out of the womb,
38:9 when I made 3 the storm clouds its garment,
and thick darkness its swaddling band, 4
38:10 when I prescribed 5 its limits,
and set 6 in place its bolts and doors,
1 tn The MT has “and he shut up.” The Vulgate has “Who?” and so many commentaries and editions adopt this reading, if not from the Vulgate, then from the sense of the sequence in the text itself.
2 tn The line uses two expressions, first the temporal clause with גִּיחַ (giakh, “when it burst forth”) and then the finite verb יֵצֵא (yetse’, “go out”) to mark the concomitance of the two actions.
3 tn The temporal clause here uses the infinitive from שִׂים (sim, “to place; to put; to make”). It underscores the sovereign placing of things.
4 tn This noun is found only here. The verb is in Ezek 16:4, and a related noun is in Ezek 30:21.
5 tc The MT has “and I broke,” which cannot mean “set, prescribed” or the like. The LXX and the Vulgate have such a meaning, suggesting a verb עֲשִׁית (’ashiyt, “plan, prescribe”). A. Guillaume finds an Arabic word with a meaning “measured it by span by my decree.” Would God give himself a decree? R. Gordis simply argues that the basic meaning “break” develops the connotation of “decide, determine” (2 Sam 5:24; Job 14:3; Dan 11:36).
6 tn Dhorme suggested reversing the two verbs, making this the first, and then “shatter” for the second colon.