Job 37:14-20

37:14 “Pay attention to this, Job!

Stand still and consider the wonders God works.

37:15 Do you know how God commands them,

how he makes lightning flash in his storm cloud?

37:16 Do you know about the balancing 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 the clouds,

solid as a mirror of molten metal?

37:19 Tell us what we should say to him.

We cannot prepare a case

because of the darkness.

37:20 Should he be informed that I want to speak?

If a man speaks, surely he would be swallowed up!


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.

tn Dhorme reads this “and how his stormcloud makes lightning to flash forth?”

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).

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.

tn The imperfect verb here carries the obligatory nuance, “what we should say?”

tn The verb means “to arrange; to set in order.” From the context the idea of a legal case is included.

tn This imperfect works well as a desiderative imperfect.