Job 37:12-18

37:12 The clouds ¹  go round in circles,

wheeling about according to his plans,

to carry out ²  all that he commands them

over the face of the whole inhabited world.

37:13 Whether it is for punishment ³  for his land,

or whether it is for mercy,

he causes it to find its mark. ⁴ 

37:14 “Pay attention to this, Job!

Stand still and consider the wonders God works.

37:15 Do you know how God commands them, ⁵ 

how he makes lightning flash in his storm cloud? ⁶ 

37:16 Do you know about the balancing ⁷  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 ⁸  the clouds,

solid as a mirror of molten metal?

[37:12]  ¹ tn The words “the clouds” are supplied from v. 11; the sentence itself actually starts: “and it goes round,” referring to the cloud.

[37:12]  ² tn Heb “that it may do.”

[37:13]  ³ tn Heb “rod,” i.e., a rod used for punishment.

[37:13]  ⁴ 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.

[37:15]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Dhorme reads this “and how his stormcloud makes lightning to flash forth?”

[37:16]  ⁷ 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).

[37:18]  ⁹ 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.