Job 38:22-38

38:22 Have you entered the storehouse ¹  of the snow,

or seen the armory ²  of the hail,

38:23 which I reserve for the time of trouble,

for the day of war and battle? ³ 

38:24 In what direction is lightning ⁴  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,

38:26 to cause it to rain on an uninhabited land, ⁵ 

a desert where there are no human beings, ⁶ 

38:27 to satisfy a devastated and desolate land,

and to cause it to sprout with vegetation? ⁷ 

38:28 Does the rain have a father,

or who has fathered the drops of the dew?

38:29 From whose womb does the ice emerge,

and the frost from the sky, ⁸  who gives birth to it,

38:30 when the waters become hard ⁹  like stone,

when the surface of the deep is frozen solid?

38:31 Can you tie the bands ¹⁰  of the Pleiades,

or release the cords of Orion?

38:32 Can you lead out

the constellations ¹¹  in their seasons,

or guide the Bear with its cubs? ¹² 

38:33 Do you know the laws of the heavens,

or can you set up their rule over the earth?

38:34 Can you raise your voice to the clouds

so that a flood of water covers you? ¹³ 

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, ¹⁴ 

or has imparted understanding to the mind?

38:37 Who by wisdom can count the clouds,

and who can tip over ¹⁵  the water jars of heaven,

38:38 when the dust hardens ¹⁶  into a mass,

and the clumps of earth stick together?

[38:22]  ¹ sn Snow and ice are thought of as being in store, brought out by God for specific purposes, such as times of battle (see Josh 10:11; Exod 9:2ff.; Isa 28:17; Isa 30:30; and Ps 18:12 [13]).

[38:22]  ² tn The same Hebrew term (אוֹצָר, ’otsar), has been translated “storehouse” in the first line and “armory” in the second. This has been done for stylistic variation, but also because “hail,” as one of God’s “weapons” (cf. the following verse) suggests military imagery; in this context the word refers to God’s “ammunition dump” where he stockpiles hail.

[38:23]  ³ sn The terms translated war and battle are different Hebrew words, but both may be translated “war” or “battle” depending on the context.

[38:24]  ⁴ 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).

[38:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “on a land, no man.”

[38:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “a desert, no man in it.”

[38:27]  ⁷ tn Heb “to cause to sprout a source of vegetation.” The word מֹצָא (motsa’) is rendered “mine” in Job 28:1. The suggestion with the least changes is Wright’s: צָמֵא (tsame’, “thirsty”). But others choose מִצִּיָּה (mitsiyyah, “from the steppe”).

[38:29]  ⁸ tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[38:30]  ⁹ tn Several suggest that the verb is not from חָבָא (khava’, “to hide”) but from a homonym, “to congeal.” This may be too difficult to support, however.

[38:31]  ¹⁰ tn This word is found here and in 1 Sam 15:32. Dhorme suggests, with others, that there has been a metathesis (a reversal of consonants), and it is the same word found in Job 31:36 (“bind”). G. R. Driver takes it as “cluster” without changing the text (“Two astronomical passages in the Old Testament,” JTS 7 [1956] :3).

[38:32]  ¹¹ tn The word מַזָּרוֹת (mazzarot) is taken by some to refer to the constellations (see 2 Kgs 23:5), and by others as connected to the word for “crown,” and so “corona.”

[38:32]  ¹² sn See Job 9:9.

[38:34]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn The word actually means “to cause to lie down.”

[38:38]  ¹⁶ 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.