Job 37:14-18
New English Translation
14 “Pay attention to this, Job!
Stand still and consider the wonders God works.
15 Do you know how God commands them,[a]
how he makes lightning flash in his storm cloud?[b]
16 Do you know about the balancing[c] of the clouds,
that wondrous activity of him who is perfect in knowledge?
17 You, whose garments are hot
when the earth is still because of the south wind,
18 will you, with him, spread out[d] the clouds,
solid as a mirror of molten metal?
Footnotes
- Job 37:15 tn The verb is בְּשׂוּם (besum, 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.
- Job 37:15 tn Dhorme reads this “and how his stormcloud makes lightning to flash forth?”
- Job 37:16 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).
- Job 37:18 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.
Job 37:14-18
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
14 “Hear this, O Job;
stop and consider the wondrous works of God.(A)
15 Do you know how God lays his command upon them
and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?
16 Do you know the balancings of the clouds,
the wondrous works of the one whose knowledge is perfect,(B)
17 you whose garments are hot
when the earth is still because of the south wind?
18 Can you, like him, spread out the skies,
hard as a molten mirror?(C)
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