Who determined its measurements is a question concerning the work of the designer or architect. The question in the next line concerns the surveyor and in verse 6 the engineer. This line asks “Who decided what its dimensions would be?” or, as Good News Translation says, “Who decided how large it would be?” Surely you know! would follow naturally as a conclusion if Job had been present at creation, but since he obviously was not, Revised Standard Version makes this comment particularly ironical. As sarcasm it has the meaning “You don’t know at all.” New English Bible translates “surely you should know.” Some translations play down the irony; for example, New Jerusalem Bible says “… do you know?” Revised Standard Version is to be preferred. Good News Translation‘s translation is a good model to follow. We may also say, for example, “Who decided what its measurements would be?” Good News Translation rightly transfers surely you know to the end of verse 5 so that it applies to both lines, and this is recommended to translators.

Or who stretched the line upon it? gives a picture of calculated measurements being made to assure the exactness of the construction. For the use of the measuring line see also Jeremiah 31.39; Zechariah 1.16. Stretched is the same verb used in 9.8, where Job says of God, “who alone stretched out the heavens.” Stretching a line or cord between fixed points is the preliminary task in construction, equivalent to surveying to get the angles square and the sides straight. Upon it refers to the earth in verse 4. In many language areas no careful measurements are made when preparing to build a house. No angles are square nor are lines straight. However, it is often possible to say, for example, “Who walked across it to fix its direction?” or “Who laid a bamboo pole down to get it straight?”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .