‘When dust was poured out’: Creation in Job 38.36–38

The end of the first section of the whirlwind speech in Job 38.37b–38 reads, ‘who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens, when the dust runs into a mass and the clods stick fast together?’ (ESV). The straightforward explanation, that this refers to rainfall, cannot explain the verses in the larger context of the chapter. This article carefully reviews the words used in v. 38, in particular עפר ‘dust’ and יצק ‘to pour’ (here ‘to run’), and points to a parallel for דבק ‘stick together’ in Job 41.15. This newly collected evidence reinforces the hypothesis of Van Wolde, that the stanza is a reference to the creation of the earth. With the suggested interpretation, the poetic structure of chapter 38 is more coherent. However, for this to work, one must either swap vv. 36 and 37 or reorder 36–38 into two tricola instead of three bicola.