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36 Who has put wisdom in the heart,[a]
or has imparted understanding to the mind?
37 Who by wisdom can count the clouds,
and who can tip over[b] the water jars of heaven,
38 when the dust hardens[c] into a mass,
and the clumps of earth stick together?

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Footnotes

  1. Job 38:36 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.
  2. Job 38:37 tn The word actually means “to cause to lie down.”
  3. Job 38:38 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.

36 Who has (A)put wisdom in (B)the inward parts[a]
    or given understanding to the mind?[b]
37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom?
    Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
38 when the dust runs into a mass
    and (C)the clods stick fast together?

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Footnotes

  1. Job 38:36 Or in the ibis
  2. Job 38:36 Or rooster