Text -- Job 36:21-33 (NET)

36:21 Take heed, do not turn to evil, for because of this you have been tested by affliction. 36:22 Indeed, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him? 36:23 Who has prescribed his ways for him? Or said to him, ‘You have done what is wicked’? 36:24 Remember to extol his work, which people have praised in song. 36:25 All humanity has seen it; people gaze on it from afar.

The Work and Wisdom of God

36:26 “Yes, God is great– beyond our knowledge! The number of his years is unsearchable. 36:27 He draws up drops of water; they distill the rain into its mist, 36:28 which the clouds pour down and shower on humankind abundantly. 36:29 Who can understand the spreading of the clouds, the thunderings of his pavilion? 36:30 See how he scattered his lightning about him; he has covered the depths of the sea. 36:31 It is by these that he judges the nations and supplies food in abundance. 36:32 With his hands he covers the lightning, and directs it against its target. 36:33 His thunder announces the coming storm, the cattle also, concerning the storm’s approach.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Job 36:21

¹ tn Normally “tested” would be the translation for the Niphal of בָּחַר (bakhar). Although the Qal is employed here, the context favors “tested” rather than “chose.”

NET Notes: Job 36:22

¹ tn The word מוֹרֶה (moreh) is the Hiphil participle from יָרַה (yarah). It is related to the noun תּוֹרָה (torah, “what is taught” i.e., the law).

NET Notes: Job 36:24

¹ tn The expression is “that you extol,” serving as an object of the verb.

NET Notes: Job 36:26

¹ tn The last part has the verbal construction, “and we do not know.” This clause is to be used adverbially: “beyond our understanding.”

NET Notes: Job 36:27

¹ tn The verb means “to filter; to refine,” and so a plural subject with the drops of water as the subject will not work. So many read the singular, “he distills.”

² tn This word עֵד (’ed) occurs also in Gen 2:6. The suggestion has been that instead of a mist it represents an underground watercourse that wells up to water the ground.

NET Notes: Job 36:29

¹ tn Heb “his booth.”

NET Notes: Job 36:30

¹ tn The word actually means “to spread,” but with lightning as the object, “to scatter” appears to fit the context better.

² tn The word is “light,” but taken to mean “lightning.” Theodotion had “mist” here, and so most commentators follow that because it is more appropriate to the verb and the context.

³ tn Heb “roots.”

NET Notes: Job 36:31

¹ tn The verb is יָדִין (yadin, “he judges”). Houbigant proposedיָזוּן (yazun, “he nourishes”). This has found wide acceptance among commentators (cf. NAB). G. R. Driver retained the MT but gave a meaning “enriches” to the verb (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 88ff.).

NET Notes: Job 36:32

¹ tn R. Gordis (Job, 422) prefers to link this word with the later Hebrew word for “arch,” not “hands.”

² tn Because the image might mean that God grabs the lightning and hurls it like a javelin (cf. NLT), some commentators want to change “covers” to other verbs. Dhorme has “lifts” (נִשָּׂא [nissa’] for כִּסָּה [kissah]). This fit the idea of God directing the lightning bolts.

NET Notes: Job 36:33

¹ tn Peake knew of over thirty interpretations for this verse. The MT literally says, “He declares his purpose [or his shout] concerning it; cattle also concerning what rises.” Dhorme has it: “The flock which sniffs the coming storm has warned the shepherd.” Kissane: “The thunder declares concerning him, as he excites wrath against iniquity.” Gordis translates it: “His thunderclap proclaims his presence, and the storm his mighty wrath.” Many more could be added to the list.