Job 38:25-38

Meteorological facts

25 Who cut a channel for the downpours and a way for blasts of thunder
26 to bring water to uninhabited land, a desert with no human
27 to saturate dry wasteland and make grass sprout?
28 Has the rain a father who brought forth drops of dew?
29 From whose belly does ice come; who gave birth to heaven's frost?
30 Water hardens like stone; the surface of the deep thickens.
31 Can you bind Pleiades' chains or loosen the reins of Orion?
32 Can you guide the stars at their proper times, lead the Bear with her cubs?
33 Do you know heaven's laws, or can you impose its rule on earth?
34 Can you issue an order to the clouds so their abundant waters cover you?
35 Can you send lightning so that it goes and then says to you, "I'm here"?
36 Who put wisdom in remote places, or who gave understanding to a rooster?
37 Who is wise enough to count the clouds, and who can tilt heaven's water containers
38 so that dust becomes mud and clods of dirt adhere?

Job 38:25-38 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 38

In this chapter the Lord takes up the controversy with Job; calls upon him to prepare to engage with him in it, and demands an answer to posing questions he puts to him, concerning the earth and the fabric of it, Job 38:1-7; concerning the sea, compared to an infant in embryo, at its birth, in its swaddling bands and cradle, Job 38:8-11; concerning the morning light, its spread and influence, Job 38:12-15; concerning the springs of the sea, the dark parts of the earth, the place both of light and darkness, Job 38:16-21; concerning the various meteors, snow, hail, rain, thunder, lightning, and the influences of the stars, Job 38:22-38; and concerning provision for lions and ravens, Job 38:40,41.

Footnotes 1

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