Job 38:33

Job 38:33

Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?

a. ASV: Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens? Canst thou establish the dominion thereof in the earth?

b. YLT: Hast thou known the statutes of heaven? Or dost thou appoint Its dominion in the earth?

c. Classic Amplified: Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule upon the earth?

d. Septuagint: And knowest thou the changes of heaven, or the events which take place together under heaven? 

e. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/ Writings: Do you know the laws of heaven; did you place its rule upon the land?

1. “Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?...”

a. Knowest [thou] [Strong: 3045 yâdaʻ, yaw-dah'; a primitive root; to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing); used in a great variety of senses, figuratively, literally, euphemistically and inferentially (including observation, care, recognition; and causatively, instruction, designation, punishment, etc.):—acknowledge, acquaintance(-ted with), advise, answer, appoint, assuredly, be aware, (un-) awares, can(-not), certainly, comprehend, consider, × could they, cunning, declare, be diligent, (can, cause to) discern, discover, endued with, familiar friend, famous, feel, can have, be (ig-) norant, instruct, kinsfolk, kinsman, (cause to let, make) know, (come to give, have, take) knowledge, have (knowledge), (be, make, make to be, make self) known, be learned, lie by man, mark, perceive, privy to, × prognosticator, regard, have respect, skilful, shew, can (man of) skill, be sure, of a surety, teach, (can) tell, understand, have (understanding), × will be, wist, wit, wot.]

b. [the] ordinances [Strong: 2708 chuqqâh, khook-kaw'; feminine of H2706, and meaning substantially the same:—appointed, custom, manner, ordinance, site, statute.]

c. [of] heaven [Strong: 8064 shâmayim, shaw-mah'-yim; dual of an unused singular שָׁמֶה shâmeh; from an unused root meaning to be lofty; the sky (as aloft; the dual perhaps alluding to the visible arch in which the clouds move, as well as to the higher ether where the celestial bodies revolve):—air, × astrologer, heaven(-s).]

2. “...canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?”

a. [Strong: 518 'im eem a primitive particle; used very widely as demonstrative, lo!; interrog., whether?; or conditional, if, although; also Oh that!, when; hence, as a negative, not:--(and, can-, doubtless, if, that) (not), + but, either, + except, + more(-over if, than), neither, nevertheless, nor, oh that, or, + save (only, -ing), seeing, since, sith, + surely (no more, none, not), though, + of a truth, + unless, + verily, when, whereas, whether, while, + yet.]

b. [canst thou] set [Strong: 7760 sûwm, soom; or שִׂים sîym; a primitive root; to put (used in a great variety of applications, literal, figurative, inferentially, and elliptically):—× any wise, appoint, bring, call (a name), care, cast in, change, charge, commit, consider, convey, determine, disguise, dispose, do, get, give, heap up, hold, impute, lay (down, up), leave, look, make (out), mark, name, × on, ordain, order, paint, place, preserve, purpose, put (on), regard, rehearse, reward, (cause to) set (on, up), shew, stedfastly, take, × tell, tread down, (over-)turn, × wholly, work.]

c. [the] dominion [thereof] [Strong: 4896 mishṭâr, mish-tawr'; from H7860; jurisdiction:—dominion.]

d. [in the] earth [Strong: 776 ʼerets, eh'-rets; from an unused root probably meaning to be firm; the earth (at large, or partitively a land):—× common, country, earth, field, ground, land, × natins, way, + wilderness, world.]

1). The laws of heaven include all the gravitational strengths and measurements in the universe and God has created them (Job 38:33). I know nothing of astrophysics, but there are many who do. Below are two paragraphs that I believe glorify God, in particular our Lord Jesus Christ for He created all things (Colossians 1:12-16), and upholds them by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3).

a). Henry M. Morris, in his book, The Biblical Basis Of Modern Science, quotes physicist and mathematician, Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac on the mathematical order of the universe: “There is one other line along which one can still proceed by theoretical means. It seems to be one of the fundamental features of nature that fundamental physical laws are described in terms of mathematical theory of great beauty and power, needing quite a high standard of mathematics for one to understand it. You may wonder: Why is nature so constructed along these lines? One can only answer that our present knowledge seems to show that nature is so constructed. We simply have to accept it. One could perhaps describe the situation by saying that God is a mathematician on a very high order, and He used very advanced mathematics in constructing the universe. Our feeble attempts at mathematics enable us to understand a bit of the universe, and as we proceed to develop higher and higher mathematics we can hope to understand the universe better.”

b). Ramon Bennett, “When Day And Night Cease”: “The planets in our Solar System come into line every 176 years and one such event took place during the 1980’s. The United States, taking advantage of the line up, launched the spacecraft Voyager 2 from Cape Canaveral in August 1977 on a data-gathering trek through space. Voyager 2 cruised at 37,000 mph, (60,000km), accelerating to 61,000 mph (98,000 km) when pulled by the gravitational force of the planets. It reached Jupiter in 1979, Saturn in 1981, Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989, after travelling some two and one half billion miles (four billion kilometers). By using the gravitational pull of each planet during the lineup reduced the length of the trip by eighteen years.” (This information was gleaned from National Geographic: “Voyage of the Century” National Geographic, Volume 178, No 2 August, 1990.)