Job 36:26-33

The Work and Wisdom of God

36:26 “Yes, God is great – beyond our knowledge! ¹ 

The number of his years is unsearchable.

36:27 He draws up drops of water;

they distill ²  the rain into its mist, ³ 

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? ⁴ 

36:30 See how he scattered ⁵  his lightning ⁶  about him;

he has covered the depths ⁷  of the sea.

36:31 It is by these that he judges ⁸  the nations

and supplies food in abundance.

36:32 With his hands ⁹  he covers ¹⁰  the lightning,

and directs it against its target.

36:33 ¹¹ His thunder announces the coming storm,

the cattle also, concerning the storm’s approach.

Job 37:13

37:13 Whether it is for punishment ¹²  for his land,

or whether it is for mercy,

he causes it to find its mark. ¹³ 

Job 38:34-38

38:34 Can you raise your voice to the clouds

so that a flood of water covers you? ¹⁴ 

38:35 Can you send out lightning bolts, and they go?

Will they say to you, ‘Here we are’?

38:36 Who has put wisdom in the heart, ¹⁵ 

or has imparted understanding to the mind?

38:37 Who by wisdom can count the clouds,

and who can tip over ¹⁶  the water jars of heaven,

38:38 when the dust hardens ¹⁷  into a mass,

and the clumps of earth stick together?

Psalms 135:7

135:7 He causes the clouds to arise from the end of the earth,

makes lightning bolts accompany the rain,

and brings the wind out of his storehouses.

Amos 9:7

9:7 “You Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight,” ¹⁸  says the Lord.

“Certainly I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt,

but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor ¹⁹  and the Arameans from Kir. ²⁰ 

[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.”

[36:27]  ² 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.”

[36:27]  ³ 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.

[36:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “his booth.”

[36:30]  ⁵ tn The word actually means “to spread,” but with lightning as the object, “to scatter” appears to fit the context better.

[36:30]  ⁶ 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.

[36:30]  ⁷ tn Heb “roots.”

[36:31]  ⁸ 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.).

[36:32]  ⁹ tn R. Gordis (Job, 422) prefers to link this word with the later Hebrew word for “arch,” not “hands.”

[36:32]  ¹⁰ 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.

[36:33]  ¹¹ 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.

[37:13]  ¹² tn Heb “rod,” i.e., a rod used for punishment.

[37:13]  ¹³ tn This is interpretive; Heb “he makes find it.” The lightning could be what is intended here, for it finds its mark. But R. Gordis (Job, 429) suggests man is the subject – let him find what it is for, i.e., the fate appropriate for him.

[38:34]  ¹⁴ tc The LXX has “answer you,” and some editors have adopted this. However, the reading of the MT makes better sense in the verse.

[38:36]  ¹⁵ tn This verse is difficult because of the two words, טֻחוֹת (tukhot, rendered here “heart”) and שֶׂכְוִי (sekhvi, here “mind”). They have been translated a number of ways: “meteor” and “celestial appearance”; the stars “Procyon” and “Sirius”; “inward part” and “mind”; even as birds, “ibis” and “cock.” One expects them to have something to do with nature – clouds and the like. The RSV accordingly took them to mean “meteor” (from a verb “to wander”) and “a celestial appearance.” But these meanings are not well-attested.

[38:37]  ¹⁶ tn The word actually means “to cause to lie down.”

[38:38]  ¹⁷ tn The word means “to flow” or “to cast” (as in casting metals). So the noun developed the sense of “hard,” as in cast metal.

[9:7]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew text has a rhetorical question, “Are you children of Israel not like the Cushites to me?” The rhetorical question has been converted to an affirmative statement in the translation for clarity. See the comment at 8:8.

[9:7]  ¹⁹ sn Caphtor may refer to the island of Crete.

[9:7]  ²⁰ tn The second half of v. 7 is also phrased as a rhetorical question in the Hebrew text, “Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir?” The translation converts the rhetorical question into an affirmation for clarity.