Job 36:27-37:13

New International Reader's Version

²⁷ “He makes mist rise from the water.
    Then it falls as rain into the streams.
²⁸ The clouds pour down their moisture.
    Rain showers fall on people everywhere.
²⁹ Who can understand how God spreads out the clouds?
    Who can explain how he thunders from his home in heaven?
³⁰ See how he scatters his lightning around him!
    He lights up the deepest parts of the ocean.
³¹ The rain he sends makes things grow for the nations.
    He provides them with plenty of food.
³² He holds lightning bolts in his hands.
    He commands them to strike their marks.
³³ His thunder announces that a storm is coming.
    Even the cattle let us know it’s approaching.

37 “When I hear the thunder, my heart pounds.
    It beats faster inside me.
² Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice!
    Listen to the thunder that comes from him!
³ He sends his lightning across the sky.
    It reaches from one end of the earth to the other.
⁴ Next comes the sound of his roaring thunder.
    He thunders with his majestic voice.
When his voice fills the air,
    he doesn’t hold anything back.
⁵ God’s voice thunders in wonderful ways.
    We’ll never understand the great things he does.
⁶ He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth.’
    He tells the rain, ‘Pour down your mighty waters.’
⁷ He stops everyone from working.
    He wants them to see his work.
⁸ The animals go inside.
    They remain in their dens.
⁹ The storm comes out of its storeroom in the heavens.
    The cold comes from the driving winds.
¹⁰ The breath of God produces ice.
    The shallow water freezes over.
¹¹ He loads the clouds with moisture.
    He scatters his lightning through them.
¹² He directs the clouds to circle
    above the surface of the whole earth.
    They do everything he commands them to do.
¹³ He tells the clouds to punish people.
    Or he brings them to water his earth and show his love.