Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?

JOB 38:8KJV
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Job 38:8 (KJV)

What does Job 38:8 mean?

Job 38:8 presents God as the one who set a boundary for the sea when it first burst into being. The question asks Job to consider who could contain such a powerful force, pointing beyond human ability to God’s command over the natural world.

God is speaking to Job in a series of questions. The sea is pictured as a newborn bursting from the womb, while the “doors” suggest a barrier that holds it within its place.

The Hebrew behind Job 38:8

  • “shut up” — סָכַךְ (sakhakh): This word can mean to shut in or enclose. Here it gives the picture of the sea being contained behind a barrier.
  • “brake forth” — גִּיחַ (giakh): This word can describe bursting or gushing out. It adds force to the picture of the sea’s sudden emergence.

Why Job 38:8 matters

  • The question calls for Job to recognize a power greater than his own. God asks “who” shut up the sea, rather than presenting the event as something Job witnessed or controlled.
  • The sea’s boundary is part of the picture. In verses 10–11, God speaks of setting limits and telling the waves how far they may come.
  • The birth image gives the sea a beginning. The phrase “as if it had issued out of the womb” presents the sea as something that came into being, not as an endless force.

Where else these words appear

“forth” Hebrew H1518 · used in 6 verses

  • Judges 20:33 And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put themselves in array at Baaltamar: and the liers in wait of Israel came forth out of their places, even out of the meadows of Gibeah.
  • Job 40:23 Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.
  • Ezekiel 32:2 Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.

“up” Hebrew H5526 · used in 23 verses

  • Exodus 25:20 And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.
  • 1 Kings 8:7 For the cherubims spread forth their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims covered the ark and the staves thereof above.
  • Psalms 140:7 O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.

“womb” Hebrew H7358 · used in 25 verses

  • Genesis 20:18 For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife.
  • Numbers 8:16 For they are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel; instead of such as open every womb, even instead of the firstborn of all the children of Israel, have I taken them unto me.
  • Job 31:15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?

“doors” Hebrew H1817 · used in 78 verses

  • Genesis 19:6 And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,
  • 2 Kings 4:4 And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.
  • Nehemiah 7:3 And I said unto them, Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun be hot; and while they stand by, let them shut the doors, and bar them: and appoint watches of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, every one in his watch, and every one to be over against his house.