Job 36:32

36:32 With his hands ¹  he covers ²  the lightning,

and directs it against its target.

Job 36:30

36:30 See how he scattered ³  his lightning ⁴  about him;

he has covered the depths ⁵  of the sea.

Job 37:11

37:11 He loads the clouds with moisture; ⁶ 

he scatters his lightning through the clouds.

Job 37:3

37:3 Under the whole heaven he lets it go,

even his lightning to the far corners ⁷  of the earth.

Job 38:35

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

Will they say to you, ‘Here we are’?

Job 37:15

37:15 Do you know how God commands them, ⁸ 

how he makes lightning flash in his storm cloud? ⁹ 

Job 28:26

28:26 When he imposed a limit ¹⁰  for the rain,

and a path for the thunderstorm, ¹¹ 

Job 37:4

37:4 After that a voice roars;

he thunders with an exalted voice,

and he does not hold back his lightning bolts ¹² 

when his voice is heard.

Job 38:24-25

38:24 In what direction is lightning ¹³  dispersed,

or the east winds scattered over the earth?

38:25 Who carves out a channel for the heavy rains,

and a path for the rumble of thunder,

Job 1:16

1:16 While this one was still speaking, ¹⁴  another messenger arrived ¹⁵  and said, “The fire of God ¹⁶  has fallen from heaven ¹⁷  and has burned up the sheep and the servants – it has consumed them! And I – only I alone – escaped to tell you!”

[36:32]  ¹ tn R. Gordis (Job, 422) prefers to link this word with the later Hebrew word for “arch,” not “hands.”

[36:32]  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.

[36:30]  ³ tn The word actually means “to spread,” but with lightning as the object, “to scatter” appears to fit the context better.

[36:30]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “roots.”

[37:11]  ⁵ tn The word “moisture” is drawn from רִי (ri) as a contraction for רְוִי (rÿvi). Others emended the text to get “hail” (NAB) or “lightning,” or even “the Creator.” For these, see the various commentaries. There is no reason to change the reading of the MT when it makes perfectly good sense.

[37:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “wings,” and then figuratively for the extremities of garments, of land, etc.

[37:15]  ⁹ 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.

[37:15]  ¹⁰ tn Dhorme reads this “and how his stormcloud makes lightning to flash forth?”

[28:26]  ¹¹ tn Or “decree.”

[28:26]  ¹² tn Or “thunderbolt,” i.e., lightning. Heb “the roaring of voices/sounds,” which describes the nature of the storm.

[37:4]  ¹³ tn The verb simply has the pronominal suffix, “them.” The idea must be that when God brings in all the thunderings he does not hold back his lightning bolts either.

[38:24]  ¹⁵ tn Because the parallel with “light” and “east wind” is not tight, Hoffmann proposed ‘ed instead, “mist.” This has been adopted by many. G. R. Driver suggests “parching heat” (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 91-92).

[1:16]  ¹⁷ tn The particle עוֹד (’od, “still”) is used with the participle to express the past circumstances when something else happened (IBHS 625-26 §37.6d).

[1:16]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew expression is literally “yet/this/speaking/and this/ arrived.” The sentence uses the two demonstratives as a contrasting pair. It means “this one was still speaking when that one arrived” (IBHS 308-9 §17.3c). The word “messenger” has been supplied in the translation in vv. 16, 17, and 18 for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[1:16]  ¹⁹ sn The “fire of God” would refer to lightning (1 Kgs 18:38; 2 Kgs 1:12; cf. NAB, NCV, TEV). The LXX simply has “fire.” The first blow came from enemies; the second from heaven, which might have confused Job more as to the cause of his troubles. The use of the divine epithet could also be an indication of the superlative degree; see D. W. Thomas, “A Consideration of Some Unusual Ways of Expressing the Superlative in Hebrew,” VT 3 (1953): 209-24.

[1:16]  ²⁰ tn Or “from the sky.” The Hebrew word שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven[s]” or “sky” depending on the context.