Job 38:7-9 New English Translation

⁷when the morning stars^[a] sang^[b] in chorus,^[c]
and all the sons of God^[d] shouted for joy?
⁸“Who shut up^[e] the sea with doors

when it burst forth,^[f] coming out of the womb,
⁹when I made^[g] the storm clouds its garment,
and thick darkness its swaddling band,^[h]

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Footnotes

Job 38:7 sn The expression “morning stars” (Heb “stars of the morning”) is here placed in parallelism to the angels, “the sons of God.” It may refer to the angels under the imagery of the stars, or, as some prefer, it may poetically include all creation. There is a parallel also with the foundation of the temple which was accompanied by song (see Ezra 3:10, 11). But then the account of the building of the original tabernacle was designed to mirror creation (see M. Fishbane, Biblical Text and Texture).
Job 38:7 tn The construction, an adverbial clause of time, uses רָנָן (ranan), which is often a ringing cry, an exultation. The parallelism with “shout for joy” shows this to be enthusiastic acclamation. The infinitive is then continued in the next colon with the vav (ו) consecutive preterite.
Job 38:7 tn Heb “together.” This is Dhorme’s suggestion for expressing how they sang together.
Job 38:7 tn See Job 1:6.
Job 38:8 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.
Job 38:8 tn The line uses two expressions, first the temporal clause with גִּיחַ (giakh, “when it burst forth”) and then the finite verb יֵצֵא (yetseʾ, “go out”) to mark the concomitance of the two actions.
Job 38:9 tn The temporal clause here uses the infinitive from שִׂים (sim, “to place; to put; to make”). It underscores the sovereign placing of things.
Job 38:9 tn This noun is found only here. The verb is in Ezek 16:4, and a related noun is in Ezek 30:21.

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