Job 37:6-16

6 He orders the snow, 'Blanket the earth!' and the rain, 'Soak the whole countryside!'

7 No one can escape the weather - it's there. And no one can escape from God.

8 Wild animals take shelter, crawling into their dens,

9 When blizzards roar out of the north and freezing rain crusts the land.

10 It's God's breath that forms the ice, it's God's breath that turns lakes and rivers solid.

11 And yes, it's God who fills clouds with rainwater and hurls lightning from them every which way.

12 He puts them through their paces - first this way, then that - commands them to do what he says all over the world.

13 Whether for discipline or grace or extravagant love, he makes sure they make their mark. A Terrible Beauty Streams from God

14 "Job, are you listening? Have you noticed all this? Stop in your tracks! Take in God's miracle-wonders!

15 Do you have any idea how God does it all, how he makes bright lightning from dark storms,

16 How he piles up the cumulus clouds - all these miracle-wonders of a perfect Mind?

Job 37:6-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 37

Elihu in this chapter proceeds to show the greatness of God as it appears in other of his works of nature, which greatly affected him, and to an attention to which he exhorts others, Job 37:1,2; particularly thunder and lightning, the direction, extent, and order of which he observes, Job 37:3,4; and then suggests that besides these there are other great things done by him, incomprehensible and unknown in various respects; as the snow, and rain, lesser and greater, which come on the earth at his command, and have such effect on men as to seal up their hands, and on the beasts of the field as to cause them to retire to their dens, and there remain, Job 37:5-8; and then he goes on to take notice of wind, and frost, and the clouds, and dispersion of them; their use and ends, whether in judgment or mercy, Job 37:9-13; and then calls on Job to consider these wondrous works of God, and remark how ignorant men are of the disposition of clouds for the rainbow; of the balancing of them; of the heat and quietness that come by the south wind, and of the firmness of the sky, Job 37:14-21; and from all this he concludes the terrible majesty, unsearchable nature of God, the excellency of his power and justice; and that men therefore should and do fear him, who is no respecter of persons, Job 37:21-23.