37:6 For to the snow he says, ‘Fall 1 to earth,’
and to the torrential rains, 2 ‘Pour down.’ 3
28:26 When he imposed a limit 4 for the rain,
and a path for the thunderstorm, 5
29:23 They waited for me as people wait 6 for the rain,
and they opened their mouths 7
as for 8 the spring rains.
36:27 He draws up drops of water;
they distill 9 the rain into its mist, 10
38:28 Does the rain have a father,
or who has fathered the drops of the dew?
5:10 he gives 11 rain on the earth, 12
and sends 13 water on the fields; 14
1 tn The verb actually means “be” (found here in the Aramaic form). The verb “to be” can mean “to happen, to fall, to come about.”
2 tn Heb “and [to the] shower of rain and shower of rains, be strong.” Many think the repetition grew up by variant readings; several Hebrew
3 tn Heb “Be strong.”
4 tn Or “decree.”
5 tn Or “thunderbolt,” i.e., lightning. Heb “the roaring of voices/sounds,” which describes the nature of the storm.
7 tn The phrase “people wait for” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation.
8 sn The analogy is that they received his words eagerly as the dry ground opens to receive the rains.
9 tn The כּ (kaf) preposition is to be supplied by analogy with the preceding phrase. This leaves a double proposition, “as for” (but see Job 29:2).
10 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.”
11 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.
13 tn Heb “who gives.” The participle continues the doxology here. But the article is necessary because of the distance between this verse and the reference to God.
14 tn In both halves of the verse the literal rendering would be “upon the face of the earth” and “upon the face of the fields.”
15 tn The second participle is simply coordinated to the first and therefore does not need the definite article repeated (see GKC 404 §126.b).
16 tn The Hebrew term חוּצוֹת (khutsot) basically means “outside,” or what is outside. It could refer to streets if what is meant is outside the house; but it refers to fields here (parallel to the more general word) because it is outside the village. See Ps 144:13 for the use of the expression for “countryside.” The LXX gives a much wider interpretation: “what is under heaven.”