Bible References to Job's World found in the Book of Job

Possible impact (or electric discharge) effects
Possible volcanic rifting, magma
Possible volcanic firestorms
Possible tsunamis
Ice Age
Cavemen?
Closing Note

POSSIBLE IMPACT (OR ELECTRIC DISCHARGE) EFFECTS -- Job 9:5‑7

Alexandrian LXX:

Who wears out the mountain and men know it not:  who overturns them in anger.
Who shakes the earth under heaven from its foundations and its pillars totter.
Who commands the sun, and it rises not; and he seals up the stars.

King James

Which removeth the mountains, and they know not;
which overturneth them in his anger
Which shaketh the earth out of her place,
Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars.

New International Version

He moves the mountains without their knowing it
and overturns them in his angeer.
He shakes the earth from its place
And makes its pillars tremble.
He speaks to the sun and it does not shine;
He seals off the light of the stars.

 

POSSIBLE VOLCANISM, RIFTING, MAGMA ‑Job 28: 5-6,9-11

As for the earth, out of it shall come bread: under it has been turned up as it were fire.  Her stones are the place of the sapphire, and her dust supplies man with gold.
…He has stretched forth his hand on the sharp rock, and turned up mountains by the roots: and he has interrupted the whirlpools of rivers and mine eye has seen every precious thing.  And he has aid bare the depths of rivers, and has brought his power to light.

King James

As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire.
The stones of it are the place of sapphires, and it hath dust of gold.
…He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots.
He cutest out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing.
He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and [the thing that is] hid bringeth he forth to light.

New International Version

The earth, from which food comes,
is transformed below as by fire;
sapphires come from its rocks,
and its dust contains nuggets of gold.
…Man’s hand assaults the flinty rock
and lays bare the roots of the mountains.
He tunnels through the rock;
His eyes see all its treasures.
He searches the sources of the rivers
And brings hidden things to light.

Job 14:18-19

Alexandrian LXX

And verily a mountain falling will utterly be destroyed and a rock shall be worn out of its place.  The waters wear the stones, and waters falling headlong overflow a heap of the earth: and thou destroyest the hope of man.

And surely the mountain falling cometh to naught, and the rock is removed out of his place.

The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.

But as a mountain erodes
and as a rock is moved from its place,
as water wears away stones
and torrents wash away the soil,
so you destroy man's hope.

 

POSSIBLE VOLCANIC FIRESTORMS ‑ Job 1:16, 19

Alexandrian LXX

While he was yet speaking, there came another messenger, and said to Job, Fire has fallen from heaven, and burnt up the sheep, and devoured the shepherds likewise; and I having escaped alone am come to tell thee.
…suddenly a great wind came on from the desert, and caught the four corners of the house, and the house fell upon thy children, and they are dead.

King James

While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am left to tell thee.
…And behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it feel upon the young men, and they are dead.

New International Version

While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
…when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house.  It collapsed on them and they are dead.

Job 18:15

It shall dwell in his tabernacle in his night: his excellency shall be sown with brimstone.

King James

It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.

Fire resides in his tent;
burning sulfur is scattered over his dwelling. 

Job 27:20‑22

Alexandrian LXX

Pains have come upon him as water, and darkness has carried him away by night.
And a burning wind shall catch him, and he shall depart, and it shall utterly drive him out of his place.  And he would fain flee out of his hand.

King James

Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night.
The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth; and as a storm hurleth him out of his place.
For God shall cast upon him, and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand.

New International Version

Terrors overtake him like a flood;
A tempest snatches him away in the night.
The east wind carried him off, and he is gone;
It sweeps him out of his place.
It hurls itself against him without mercy
As he flees headlong from its power.

 

POSSIBLE TSUNAMIS, OCEAN STORMS 

There is an oblique reference in Job 7:12, to something interesting:

Alexandrian LXX

Am I a sea, or a serpent, that thou hast set a watch over me?

King James

Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?

New International Version

Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep,
that you put me under guard?

While this reference may mean nothing more than the sort of watch we keep over the sea today, looking for storms rolling in, this could mean something much more catastrophic.  In Psalm 18:15, we see a reference to something men had seen which is what is seen during the immediate prelude to a severe tsunami:  “The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare.”  (In the LXX this reads “And the springs of waters appeared, and the foundations of the world were exposed”)  This is what happens when the waters are pulled back from the shoreline for an extended distance before the onslaught of a giant tsunami.  With the mention of this occurrence in Psalm 18 (Psalm 17 in the LXX), it is apparent that men had seen this in those days.  Psalm 18 refers to this occurrence in conjunction with other violent upheavals going on at the same time.  Thus, if Job is referring to ‘keeping watch’ over the sea in reference to watching for oncoming tsunamis during the time the continents were still separating, it would make sense to have it coupled with watching for a serpent or monster of the deep. These large animals might not be able to swim back quickly enough to avoid being stranded before the tsunami crashed in. And they would certainly be much more easily seen from a distant hillside than the smaller fish who were also stranded.

Alexandrian LXX

And out of whose womb comes the ice?  And who has produced the frost in the sky, which descends like flowing water?  Who has terrified the face of the ungodly?

King James

Out of whose womb comes the ice?  And the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?  The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

New International Version

From whose womb comes the ice?  Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?

Job 37:10

Alexandrian LXX

And from the breath of the Mighty One he will send frost; and he guides the water in whatever way he pleases.

King James

By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened.

New International Version

The breath of God produces ice, and the broad waters become frozen.

(note:  the Hebrew which is translated to ‘straitened’ in the KJV and ‘frozen’ in the NIV translates, literally, into the ‘expanse of the waters’ gaining ‘tightness.’)

Alexandrian LXX

But why have the seasons been hidden from the Lord, while the ungodly have passed over the bound, carrying off the flock with the shepherd?  They have led away the ass of the fatherless, and taken the widow’s ox for a pledge.  They have turned aside the weak from the right way: and the meek of the earth have hidden themselves together.  And they have departed like asses in the field, having gone forth on my account according to their own order: his bread is sweet to his little ones.

They have reaped a field that was not their own before the time:  the poor have laboured n the vineyards of the ungodly without pay and without food.  They have caused many naked to sleep without clothes, and they have taken away the covering of their body.  They are wet with the drops  of the mountains:  they have embraced the rock, because they had no shelter.

They have snatched the fatherless from the breast, and have afflicted the outcast.  And they have wrongfully caused others to sleep without clothing, and taken away the morsel of the hungry.

They have unrighteously laid wait in narrow places, and have not know the righteous way.  Who have cast forth the poor from the city and their own houses, and the soul of the children has groaned aloud.

King James

Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.
They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.
They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the clod.  They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;
Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses and suffer thirst.
Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out; yet God layeth not folly to them.

New International Version

Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment?
Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?
Men move boundary stones; they pasture flocks they have stolen.
They drive away the orphan’s donkey and take the widow’s ox in pledge.
They thrust the needy from the path and force all the poor of the land into hiding.
Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go about their labor of foraging food;
The wasteland provides food for their children.
The gather fodder in the fields and glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked; they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.
They are drenched by mountain rains and hug the rocks for lack of shelter.
The fatherless child is snatched from the breast; the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.
Lacking clothes, they go about naked; they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.
They crush olives among the terraces; the tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the souls of the wounded cry out for help.
But God charges no one with wrongdoing.

Job 30:1-8

Alexandrian LXX

But now the youngest have laughed me to scorn, now they reprove me in their turn, whose fathers I set at nought; with whom I did not deem worthy to be with my shepherd dogs.  Yea, why had I the strength of their hands?  For them the full term of life was lost.  One is childless in want in famine, such as they that fled but lately the distress and misery of drought.  Who compass the salt places on the sounding shore, who had salt herbs for their food, and were dishonourable and of no repute, in want of every good thing; who also ate roots of trees by reason of great hunger.

Thieves have risen up against me, whose houses were the caves of the rocks, who lived under the wild shrubs.  They will cry out among the rustling bushes.  They are sons of fools and vile men, whose name and glory are quenched from off the earth.

King James

But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.
Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?
For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.
They were driven forth from among men (they cried after them as after a thief;)
To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.
Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.
They were children of fools, yea, children of base men; they were viler than the earth.

New International Version

But now they mock me, men younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.
Of what use was the strength of their hands to me, since their vigor had gone from them?
Haggard from want and hunger, they roamed the parched land in desolate wastelands at night.
In the brush they gathered salt herbs, and their food was the root of the broom tree.
They were banished from their fellow men, shouted at as if they were thieves.
They were forced to live in the dry stream beds, among the rocks and in holes in the ground.
They brayed among the bushes and huddled in the undergrowth.
A base and nameless brood, they were driven out of the land.

There are also some interesting moments in Job's laments, in which we hints of the way the world was at that time in some other areas:

The caravans of Tema look for water,
the traveling merchants of Sheba look in hope.
They are distressed, because they have been confident;
They arrive there, only to be disappointed. (6: 18-20)

But as a mountain erodes and crumbles
and as a rock is moved from its place,
as water wears away stones
and torrents wash away the soil,
so you destroy man's hope. (14:18-19)

CLOSING NOTE:

I know that my Redeemer lives,
And that in the end he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been destroyed,
Yet in my flesh I will see God;
I myself will see him with my own eyes
--I, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!

Job 19: 25-27