Arcturus

A constellation named in two of Job's catalogues of the night sky. Older English versions render the Hebrew term Arcturus; UPDV translates it as the Bear, identifying the same constellation.

In Job's Speech

Job, replying to Bildad, names the maker of the heavens by the most visible constellations: "Who makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, And the chambers of the south" (Job 9:9). The Bear stands first in a list of fixed northern lights — the constellation, Orion, and the cluster — paired with the unseen "chambers of the south." The point is the reach of the maker, named only by the works that span horizon to horizon.

In Yahweh's Reply

Yahweh's whirlwind speech returns to the same sky and presses the question back as a challenge. "Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her train?" (Job 38:32). The Bear here is no longer simply a marker of creative power but a moving thing that has to be guided — and the train belongs to her. What Job named in chapter 9 as a witness to God's making, God invokes in chapter 38 as a witness Job himself cannot manage.