Job 36:24-33
New English Translation
24 Remember to extol[a] his work,
which people have praised in song.
25 All humanity has seen it;
people gaze on it from afar.
The Work and Wisdom of God
26 “Yes, God is great—beyond our knowledge![b]
The number of his years is unsearchable.
27 He draws up drops of water;
they distill[c] the rain into its mist,[d]
28 which the clouds pour down
and shower on humankind abundantly.
29 Who can understand the spreading of the clouds,
the thunderings of his pavilion?[e]
30 See how he scattered[f] his lightning[g] about him;
he has covered the depths[h] of the sea.
31 It is by these that he judges[i] the nations
and supplies food in abundance.
32 With his hands[j] he covers[k] the lightning,
and directs it against its target.
33 [l] His thunder announces the coming storm,
the cattle also, concerning the storm’s approach.[m]
Footnotes
- Job 36:24 tn The expression is “that you extol,” serving as an object of the verb.
- Job 36:26 tn The last part has the verbal construction, “and we do not know.” This clause is to be used adverbially: “beyond our understanding.”
- Job 36:27 tn The verb means “to filter; to refine,” and so a plural subject with the drops of water as the subject will not work. So many read the singular, “he distills.”
- Job 36:27 tn This word עֵד (ʿed) occurs also in Gen 2:6. The suggestion has been that instead of a mist it represents an underground watercourse that wells up to water the ground.
- Job 36:29 tn Heb “his booth.”
- Job 36:30 tn The word actually means “to spread,” but with lightning as the object, “to scatter” appears to fit the context better.
- Job 36:30 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.
- Job 36:30 tn Heb “roots.”
- Job 36:31 tn The verb is יָדִין (yadin, “he judges”). Houbigant proposed יָזוּן (yazun, “he nourishes”). This has found wide acceptance among commentators (cf. NAB). G. R. Driver retained the MT but gave a meaning “enriches” to the verb (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 88ff.).
- Job 36:32 tn R. Gordis (Job, 422) prefers to link this word with the later Hebrew word for “arch,” not “hands.”
- Job 36:32 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 [nissaʾ] for כִּסָּה [kissah]). This fit the idea of God directing the lightning bolts.
- Job 36:33 tn Peake knew of over thirty interpretations for this verse. The MT literally says, “He declares his purpose [or his shout] concerning it; cattle also concerning what rises.” Dhorme has it: “The flock which sniffs the coming storm has warned the shepherd.” Kissane: “The thunder declares concerning him, as he excites wrath against iniquity.” Gordis translates it: “His thunderclap proclaims his presence, and the storm his mighty wrath.” Many more could be added to the list.
- Job 36:33 tn The meaning of this verse is disputed; it may refer to cattle sensing the approaching storm.
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.