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, ¹ 

how he makes lightning flash in his storm cloud? ² 

37:16 Do you know about the balancing ³  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 ⁴  the clouds,

solid as a mirror of molten metal?

37:19 Tell us what we should ⁵  say to him.

We cannot prepare a case ⁶ 

because of the darkness.

37:20 Should he be informed that I want ⁷  to speak?

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

[37:15]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Dhorme reads this “and how his stormcloud makes lightning to flash forth?”

[37:16]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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.

[37:19]  ⁵ tn The imperfect verb here carries the obligatory nuance, “what we should say?”

[37:19]  ⁶ tn The verb means “to arrange; to set in order.” From the context the idea of a legal case is included.

[37:20]  ⁷ tn This imperfect works well as a desiderative imperfect.