Verse Lens · Context pointer
Job 26:8 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 8. 8He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
Job 26:8 advances the thought unit with the words “He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.” Job states “He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds” as one poetic claim in A Hymn Surveys Divine Rule from Sheol to the Heavens.
Read It With
- Job 26:5–26:14
Read Job 26:8 with 26:5–26:14. Read alone, “He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them” could lose its speaker, the question or claim it develops, and the unit's outcome. The complete movement establishes: The speech portrays the dead trembling, Sheol exposed, earth suspended, waters bound, heaven shaken, sea stilled, and the fleeing serpent pierced, then calls these only the edges of God's ways.
Why It Needs Context
Job 26:8 depends on 26:5–26:14; isolating “He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them” would detach a poetic premise, image, response, or transition from Job and “A Hymn Surveys Divine Rule from Sheol to the Heavens.”
Read Job 26:5–14 together
Why these verses belong together: Job 26:5–26:14 follows the pinned KJV paragraphing and holds together one sustained speech movement: “A Hymn Surveys Divine Rule from Sheol to the Heavens.” The next unit begins with a new stanza, question sequence, scene, speaker response, or rhetorical turn.
Verse 5. 5 Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof.
Verse 6. 6 Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.
Verse 7. 7 He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.
Verse 8. 8 He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.
Verse 9. 9 He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it.
Verse 10. 10 He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.
Verse 11. 11 The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof.
Verse 12. 12 He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud.
Verse 13. 13 By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.
Verse 14. 14 Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Job 26:5–26:14 — A Hymn Surveys Divine Rule from Sheol to the HeavensSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? probable
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Job 26:5–26:14, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Job
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 26:5–26:14
Open the fixed Hebrew Job file ↗