1Ja, darüber erzittert mein Herz und bebt auf von seiner Stelle. 2Höret, höret das Getöse seiner Stimme und das Gemurmel, das aus seinem Munde hervorgeht! 3Er sendet es aus unter den ganzen Himmel, und seinen Blitz bis zu den Säumen der Erde. 4Nach dem Blitze brüllt eine Stimme; er donnert mit seiner erhabenen Stimme, und hält die Blitze nicht zurück, wenn seine Stimme gehört wird. 5Gott donnert wunderbar mit seiner Stimme; er tut große Dinge, die wir nicht begreifen. 6Denn zum Schnee spricht er: Falle zur Erde! und zum Regengusse und den Güssen seines gewaltigen Regens. 7Er lähmt die Hand eines jeden Menschen, damit alle Menschen sein Werk kennen lernen. 8Und das Wild geht in sein Versteck und bleibt in seinen Höhlen. 9Aus der Kammer des Südens kommt Sturm, und von den Nordwinden Kälte. 10Durch den Odem Gottes entsteht Eis, und die Breite der Wasser zieht sich zusammen. 11Auch beladet er mit Wasserfülle das Gewölk, breitet weithin aus seine Blitzwolken. 12Und unter seiner Leitung wenden sie sich ringsumher zu ihrem Werke, zu allem, was er ihnen gebietet, über die Fläche des Erdkreises hin, 13sei es, daß er sie zur Geißel, oder für seine Erde, oder zur Erweisung seiner Gnade sich entladen läßt. 14Nimm dieses zu Ohren, Hiob; stehe und betrachte die Wunder Gottes! 15Weißt du, wie Gott sie beladet, und leuchten läßt den Blitz seines Gewölks? 16Verstehst du dich auf das Schweben der Wolke, auf die Wundertaten des an Wissen Vollkommenen? 17Du, dessen Kleider heiß werden, wenn das Land schwül wird von Süden her, 18kannst du, gleich ihm, das Himmelsgewölbe ausbreiten, fest wie ein gegossener Spiegel? 19Tue uns kund, was wir ihm sagen sollen! Wir können vor Finsternis nichts vorbringen. 20Soll ihm gemeldet werden, daß ich reden wolle? Wenn jemand zu ihm spricht, er wird gewiß verschlungen werden. 21Und jetzt sieht man das Licht nicht, welches leuchtet am Himmelsgewölbe; aber ein Wind fährt daher und reinigt dasselbe. 22Aus dem Norden kommt Gold: - um Gott ist furchtbare Pracht; 23den Allmächtigen, den erreichen wir nicht, den Erhabenen an Kraft; und das Recht und der Gerechtigkeit Fülle beugt er nicht. 24Darum fürchten ihn die Menschen; er sieht keine an, die weisen Herzens sind.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 (Job 37:1-24)
At this--when I hear the thundering of the Divine Majesty. Perhaps the storm already had begun, out of which God was to address Job (
Job 38:1).
2 Hear attentively--the thunder (noise), &c., and then you will feel that there is good reason to tremble.
sound--muttering of the thunder.
3 directeth it--however zigzag the lightning's course; or, rather, it applies to the pealing roll of the thunder. God's all-embracing power.
ends--literally, "wings," "skirts," the habitable earth being often compared to an extended garment (
Job 38:13;
Isa 11:12).
4 The thunderclap follows at an interval after the flash.
stay them--He will not hold back the lightnings (
Job 37:3), when the thunder is heard [MAURER]. Rather, take "them" as the usual concomitants of thunder, namely, rain and hail [UMBREIT] (
Job 40:9).
5 (
Job 36:26;
Ps 65:6;
Ps 139:14). The sublimity of the description lies in this, that God is everywhere in the storm, directing it whither He will [BARNES]. See
Ps 29:1-
Ps 29:11, where, as here, the "voice" of God is repeated with grand effect. The thunder in Arabia is sublimely terrible.
6 Be--more forcible than "fall," as UMBREIT translates
Gen 1:3.
to the small rain, &c.--He saith, Be on the earth. The shower increasing from "small" to "great," is expressed by the plural "showers" (Margin), following the singular "shower." Winter rain (
Song 2:11).
7 In winter God stops man's out-of-doors activity.
sealeth--closeth up (
Job 9:7). Man's "hands" are then tied up.
his work--in antithesis to man's own work ("hand") which at other times engages men so as to make them liable to forget their dependence on God. UMBREIT more literally translates, That all men whom He has made (literally, "of His making") may be brought to acknowledgment."
8 remain--rest in their lairs. It is beautifully ordered that during the cold, when they could not obtain food, many lie torpid, a state wherein they need no food. The desolation of the fields, at God's bidding, is poetically graphic.
9 south--literally, "chambers"; connected with the south (
Job 9:9). The whirlwinds are poetically regarded as pent up by God in His southern chambers, whence He sends them forth (so
Job 38:22;
Ps 135:7). As to the southern whirlwinds (see
Isa 21:1;
Zech 9:14), they drive before them burning sands; chiefly from February to May.
the north--literally, "scattering"; the north wind scatters the clouds.
10 the breath of God--poetically, for the ice-producing north wind.
frost--rather, "ice."
straitened--physically accurate; frost compresses or contracts the expanded liquid into a congealed mass (
Job 38:29-
Job 38:30;
Ps 147:17-
Ps 147:18).
11 How the thunderclouds are dispersed, or else employed by God, either for correction or mercy.
by watering--by loading it with water.
wearieth--burdeneth it, so that it falls in rain; thus "wearieth" answers to the parallel "scattereth" (compare, see on
Job 37:9); a clear sky resulting alike from both.
bright cloud--literally, "cloud of his light," that is, of His lightning. UMBREIT for "watering," &c., translates; "Brightness drives away the clouds, His light scattereth the thick clouds"; the parallelism is thus good, but the Hebrew hardly sanctions it.
12 it--the cloud of lightning.
counsels--guidance (
Ps 148:8); literally, "steering"; the clouds obey God's guidance, as the ship does the helmsman. So the lightning (see on
Job 36:31-
Job 36:32); neither is haphazard in its movements.
they--the clouds, implied in the collective singular "it."
face of the world, &c.--in the face of the earth's circle.
13 Literally, "He maketh it (the rain-cloud) find place," whether for correction, if (it be destined) for His land (that is, for the part inhabited by man, with whom God deals, as opposed to the parts uninhabited, on which rain is at other times appointed to fall,
Job 38:26-
Job 38:27) or for mercy. "If it be destined for His land" is a parenthetical supposition [MAURER]. In English Version, this clause spoils the even balance of the antithesis between the "rod" (Margin) and "mercy" (
Ps 68:9; Gen. 7:1-24).
14 (
Ps 111:2).
15 when--rather, "how."
disposed them--lays His charge on these "wonders" (
Job 37:14) to arise.
light--lightning.
shine--flash. How is it that light arises from the dark thundercloud?
16 Hebrew, "Hast thou understanding of the balancings," &c., how the clouds are poised in the air, so that their watery gravity does not bring them to the earth? The condensed moisture, descending by gravity, meets a warmer temperature, which dissipates it into vapor (the tendency of which is to ascend) and so counteracts the descending force.
perfect in knowledge--God; not here in the sense that Elihu uses it of himself (
Job 36:4).
dost thou know--how, &c.
17 thy garments, &c.--that is, dost thou know how thy body grows warm, so as to affect thy garments with heat?
south wind--literally, "region of the south." "When He maketh still (and sultry) the earth (that is, the atmosphere) by (during) the south wind" (
Song 4:16).
18 with him--like as He does (
Job 40:15).
spread out--given expanse to.
strong pieces--firm; whence the term "firmament" ("expansion,"
Gen 1:6, Margin;
Isa 44:24).
molten looking glass--image of the bright smiling sky. Mirrors were then formed of molten polished metal, not glass.
19 Men cannot explain God's wonders; we ought, therefore, to be dumb and not contend with God. If Job thinks we ought, "let him teach us, what we shall say."
order--frame.
darkness--of mind; ignorance. "The eyes are bewilderingly blinded, when turned in bold controversy with God towards the sunny heavens" (
Job 37:18) [UMBREIT].
20 What I a mortal say against God's dealings is not worthy of being told HIM. In opposition to Job's wish to "speak" before God (
Job 13:3,
Job 13:18-
Job 13:22).
if . . . surely he shall be swallowed up--The parallelism more favors UMBREIT, "Durst a man speak (before Him, complaining) that he is (without cause) being destroyed?"
21 cleanseth--that is, cleareth the air of clouds. When the "bright light" of the sun, previously not seen through "clouds," suddenly shines out from behind them, owing to the wind clearing them away, the effect is dazzling to the eye; so if God's majesty, now hidden, were suddenly revealed in all its brightness, it would spread darkness over Job's eyes, anxious as he is for it (compare, see on
Job 37:19) [UMBREIT]. It is because now man sees not the bright sunlight (God's dazzling majesty), owing to the intervening "clouds" (
Job 26:9), that they dare to wish to "speak" before God (
Job 37:20). Prelude to God's appearance (
Job 38:1). The words also hold true in a sense not intended by Elihu, but perhaps included by the Holy Ghost. Job and other sufferers cannot see the light of God's countenance through the clouds of trial: but the wind will soon clear them off, and God shall appear again: let them but wait patiently, for He still shines, though for a time they see Him not (see on
Job 37:23).
22 Rather, "golden splendor." MAURER translates "gold." It is found in northern regions. But God cannot be "found out," because of His "Majesty" (
Job 37:23). Thus the twenty-eighth chapter corresponds; English Version is simpler.
the north--Brightness is chiefly associated with it (see on
Job 23:9). Here, perhaps, because the north wind clears the air (
Pro 25:23). Thus this clause answers to the last of
Job 37:21; as the second of this verse to the first of
Job 37:21. Inverted parallelism. (See
Isa 14:13;
Ps 48:2).
with God--rather, "upon God," as a garment (
Ps 104:1-
Ps 104:2).
majesty--splendor.
23 afflict--oppressively, so as to "pervert judgment" as Job implied (see on
Job 8:3); but see on
Job 37:21, end of note. The reading, "He answereth not," that is, gives no account of His dealings, is like a transcriber's correction, from
Job 33:13, Margin.
24 do--rather, "ought."
wise--in their own conceits.
