Job 37:6

37:6 For to the snow he says, ‘Fall ¹  to earth,’

and to the torrential rains, ²  ‘Pour down.’ ³ 

Job 28:26

28:26 When he imposed a limit ⁴  for the rain,

and a path for the thunderstorm, ⁵ 

Job 29:23

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.

[37:6]  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.”

[37:6]  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 mss delete the second pair, and so many editors do. But the repetition may have served to stress the idea that the rains were heavy.

[37:6]  ³ tn Heb “Be strong.”

[28:26]  ⁴ tn Or “decree.”

[28:26]  ⁵ tn Or “thunderbolt,” i.e., lightning. Heb “the roaring of voices/sounds,” which describes the nature of the storm.

[29:23]  ⁷ tn The phrase “people wait for” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation.

[29:23]  ⁸ sn The analogy is that they received his words eagerly as the dry ground opens to receive the rains.

[29:23]  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).