37:14 “Pay attention to this, Job!
Stand still and consider the wonders God works.
37:15 Do you know how God commands them, 1
how he makes lightning flash in his storm cloud? 2
37:16 Do you know about the balancing 3 of the clouds,
that wondrous activity of him who is perfect in knowledge?
37:17 You, whose garments are hot
when the earth is still because of the south wind,
37:18 will you, with him, spread out 4 the clouds,
solid as a mirror of molten metal?
37:19 Tell us what we should 5 say to him.
We cannot prepare a case 6
because of the darkness.
37:20 Should he be informed that I want 7 to speak?
If a man speaks, surely he would be swallowed up!
1 tn The verb is בְּשׂוּם (bÿsum, from שִׂים [sim, “set”]), so the idea is how God lays [or sets] [a command] for them. The suffix is proleptic, to be clarified in the second colon.
2 tn Dhorme reads this “and how his stormcloud makes lightning to flash forth?”
3 tn As indicated by HALOT 618 s.v. מִפְלָשׂ, the concept of “balancing” probably refers to “floating” or “suspension” (cf. NIV’s “how the clouds hang poised” and J. E. Hartley, Job [NICOT], 481-82, n. 2).
4 tn The verb means “to beat out; to flatten,” and the analogy in the next line will use molten metal. From this verb is derived the word for the “firmament” in Gen 1:6-8, that canopy-like pressure area separating water above and water below.
5 tn The imperfect verb here carries the obligatory nuance, “what we should say?”
6 tn The verb means “to arrange; to set in order.” From the context the idea of a legal case is included.
7 tn This imperfect works well as a desiderative imperfect.