Job 29:23
They waited for me as for rain and drank in my words like spring showers.
BSB
ASV
And they waited for me as for the rain; And they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.
KJV
And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.
And they waited for me as for the rain - That is, as the dry and thirsty earth waits for the rain. This is a continuation of the beautiful image commenced in the previous verse, and conveys the idea that his counsel was as necessary in the assemblies of people as the rain was to give growth to the seed, and beauty to the landscape.
His servants that stood continually before him to hear his wisdom would not have envied Solomon's. Those are wise, or are likely to be so, that know how to value wise discourse, that wish for it, and wait for it, and drink it in as the earth does the rain that comes often upon it, Heb. vi.
Oriental image (Ps 119:131). The "early rain" is in autumn and onwards, while the seed is being sown. The "latter rain" is in March, and brings forward the harvest, which ripens in May or June.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Hosea 6:3So let us know—let us press on to know the LORD. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water…
leads to
I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their…
I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.
May he be like rain that falls on freshly cut grass, like spring showers that water the earth.
My son, if you accept my words and hide my commandments within you,
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
Through
Zechariah 10:1Ask the LORD for rain in springtime; the LORD makes the storm clouds, and He will give everyone showers of rain and crops in the field.
leads to
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.
For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and currents on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.