The Mazzaroth in the Bible
What the Hebrew word in Job 38:32 actually means — and why the ancients believed the heavens were telling a story.
What is the Mazzaroth?
Mazzaroth (Hebrew: מַזָּרוֹת) is a biblical word that appears in Job 38:32. In context, the LORD is answering Job out of the whirlwind and asking whether Job can govern the heavens:
“Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?” — Job 38:32 (KJV)
The traditional understanding — held by Jewish commentators, the ancient historian Josephus, and modern writers like Frances Rolleston and E.W. Bullinger — is that the Mazzaroth refers to the twelve constellations of the zodiac: the appointed signs God placed in the sky.
Where the word appears
The exact form Mazzaroth occurs only once in the Hebrew Bible, in Job 38:32. A closely related plural form, Mazzaloth, is used in 2 Kings 23:5 to describe the celestial signs that Judah had begun to worship under the apostate kings — a worship the Bible condemns even as it affirms that the signs themselves were set by God (Genesis 1:14).
The meaning behind the twelve signs
Genesis 1:14 records that God made the lights in the heavens “for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.” The word translated signs (אֹתֹת) is the same word later used for the prophetic signs given to Moses and the prophets. The historic Christian and Hebrew reading of the Mazzaroth is that God authored the twelve constellations as a prophetic gallery — a wordless declaration of the coming Redeemer:
- Virgo — the Seed of the woman, the promised Branch.
- Libra — the price weighed and the price that covers.
- Scorpio — the wounding of the heel and the bruising of the serpent.
- Sagittarius — the conquering archer going forth to victory.
- Capricornus — the slain goat raised as living fish.
- Aquarius — the outpoured water of life.
- Pisces — the multitudes bound and upheld.
- Aries — the slain Lamb now reigning.
- Taurus — the coming judgment of the Bull.
- Gemini — the King united with His Bride.
- Cancer — the gathering of the redeemed in safety.
- Leo — the conquering Lion of Judah.
Psalm 19 echoes this idea: “The heavens declare the glory of God… their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” The Mazzaroth, in this reading, is the silent preaching of that line.
Mazzaroth vs. astrology
The Bible distinguishes between the signs God placed in the heavens and the corrupted practice of worshipping them or using them to tell fortunes (Deuteronomy 4:19; Isaiah 47:13–14). The Mazzaroth, biblically understood, is not a horoscope. It is a prophecy written in stars — pointing not to a personality type but to a Person.
Explore the twelve signs
See each constellation and the meaning of its principal stars in the interactive viewer.