Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish its dominion over the earth?
KJV
Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?
Commentary
Commentary
Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?.... Settled by the decree, purpose, and will of God, and are firm and stable; see
Psa 148:6
; the laws and statutes respecting their situation, motion, operation, influence, and use, which are constantly observed; these are so far from being made by men, and at their direction, that they are not known by them, at least not fully and perfectly;
canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? or over it; of the heavens over the earth; not such an one as judicial astrologers ascribe unto them, as to influence the bodies of men, especially the tempers and dispositions of their minds; to affect their wills and moral actions, the events and occurrences of their lives, and the fate of nations and kingdoms; their dominion is not moral and civil, but physical or natural, as to make the revolutions of night and day, and of the several seasons of the year; and to affect and influence the fruits of the earth, &c. see
Gen 1:16
; but this dominion is solely under God, and at his direction, and is not of men's fixing.
Commentary
Commentary