Job 37
EasyEnglish Bible
Elihu continues to speak
37 ‘When I hear the noise of a storm like that,
I shake with fear.
2 Listen carefully to the sound of God's voice,
when he speaks like thunder.
3 He sends lightning across the whole sky.
Its light reaches everywhere on the earth.
4 After the lightning comes the sound of his voice.
He roars like the great sound of thunder.
When he speaks like that,
the storm never stops.
5 When God's voice speaks,
he causes wonderful things to happen.
He does great things that we cannot understand.
6 He tells the snow to fall to the earth.
He tells the rain to pour down
and make the ground wet.
7 He does that to show people what he can do.
He causes everyone to stop their own work.
8 The wild animals have to hide in a safe place.
They have to stay in their homes.
9 The strong wind of a storm comes from the place where it starts.
Cold winds blow strongly from the north.
10 The cold wind is like God's breath.
He causes ice to cover the rivers and the lakes.
11 He fills the clouds with lots of water.
He sends the lightning through the clouds.
12 The clouds move around across the whole earth.
They go wherever God sends them.
He tells them what they must do.
13 He may send a storm as punishment for his land.
Or he may send it to show his love for his people.
14 Listen carefully to what I am telling you, Job.
Stop and think about the wonderful things that God does.
15 Do you know how God commands the storms?
Do you know how he sends the bright lightning from the clouds?
16 Can you explain how the clouds hang in the sky?
God knows everything perfectly
and he does these wonderful things.
17 When the hot wind blows from the south,
nothing moves on the earth.
Your body is too hot in the clothes that you wear.
18 God puts the clouds across the whole sky,
like a metal mirror that shines brightly.
Can you also do that? No!
19 Tell us, Job, what things we should say to God.
We cannot argue with him,
because our minds are in a dark place.
20 Should I tell God that I want to speak to him?
That would be the end of me!
21 Now the wind has blown all the clouds away.
The sun shines brightly in the sky.
It is too bright for us to look at.
22 God comes with his bright glory from the north!
His glory is all around him.
It makes us afraid.
23 Almighty God is so great that we cannot come near to him.
He is very powerful.
But he always does what is right and fair.
He is not cruel to people.
24 So people respect God with fear.
He does not listen to those who think that they are wise.’
Job 37
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 37
1 At this my heart trembles
and leaps out of its place.
2 Listen to his angry voice[a]
and the rumble that comes forth from his mouth!
3 Everywhere under the heavens he sends it,
with his light, to the ends of the earth.
4 Again his voice roars,
his majestic voice thunders;
he does not restrain them when his voice is heard.
5 God thunders forth marvels with his voice;
he does great things beyond our knowing.
6 He says to the snow, “Fall to the earth”;
likewise to his heavy, drenching rain.
7 He shuts up all humankind indoors,
so that all people may know his work.
8 The wild beasts take to cover
and remain quiet in their dens.
9 Out of its chamber the tempest comes forth;
from the north winds, the cold.
10 With his breath God brings the frost,
and the broad waters congeal.(A)
11 The clouds too are laden with moisture,
the storm-cloud scatters its light.
12 [b]He it is who changes their rounds, according to his plans,
to do all that he commands them
across the inhabited world.
13 Whether for punishment or mercy,
he makes it happen.
14 Listen to this, Job!
Stand and consider the marvels of God!
15 Do you know how God lays his command upon them,
and makes the light shine forth from his clouds?
16 Do you know how the clouds are banked,
the marvels of him who is perfect in knowledge?
17 You, who swelter in your clothes
when calm lies over the land from the south,
18 Can you with him spread out the firmament of the skies,
hard as a molten mirror?[c]
19 Teach us then what we shall say to him;
we cannot, for the darkness, make our plea.
20 Will he be told about it when I speak?
Can anyone talk when he is being destroyed?
21 Rather, it is as the light that cannot be seen
while it is obscured by the clouds,
till the wind comes by and sweeps them away.[d]
22 From Zaphon[e] the golden splendor comes,
surrounding God’s awesome majesty!
23 The Almighty! We cannot find him,
preeminent in power and judgment,
abundant in justice, who never oppresses.
24 Therefore people fear him;
none can see him, however wise their hearts.[f]
Footnotes
- 37:2 Voice: the thunder.
- 37:12–13 The translation of these verses is uncertain.
- 37:18 The firmament…mirror: the ancients thought of the sky as a ceiling above which were the “upper waters” (cf. Gn 1:6–7; 7:11); when this ceiling became as hard as metal, the usual rain failed to fall on the earth (cf. Lv 26:19; Dt 28:23).
- 37:21 Elihu argues that even though God seems not to know our circumstances, he does know them, just as surely as the sun shines behind the clouds.
- 37:22 Zaphon: the mythical mountain of the gods; cf. note on 26:7.
- 37:24 The concluding remark of Elihu is ironic in view of the appearance of the Lord in the next chapter and Job’s claim in 42:5.
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