Job 37:17
in Job 37You whose clothes get hot when the land lies hushed under the south wind,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
How thy garments are warm, When the earth is still by reason of the south wind?
KJV
How thy garments are warm, when he quieteth the earth by the south wind?
⋯
This verse in Job 37
Commentary
12 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
How thy garments are warm - What is the reason that the garments which we wear produce warmth? This, it would seem, was one of the philosophical questions which were asked at that time, and which it was difficult to explain.
This site's exposition
Listen to this, O Job
on Job 37:14-18
Elihu turns the catalogue into a direct challenge, “Listen to this, O Job”, then presses questions he cannot answer. Clarke reads the “mirror of bronze” as an image drawn from a cast metal mirror. Barnes notes that the pattern anticipates the whirlwind's method, unanswerable questions in place of argument.
This site's exposition
under the south wind
Albert Barnes calls hot clothes a hard question of that age. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the hushed land as still, sultry air under the south wind. Matthew Henry suggests Elihu saw the whirlwind cloud rising in the south.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Here he may mean, You are now in the midst of afflictions, but later you will have rest—and there is also the proof given by divine wisdom, which has foreseen death as a solution and end to human tribulations. Or perhaps [he means], even in the midst of your trials, you remain out of the fight of the war and the troubles, and he punishes you in this manner.
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XXVII · Written before 604.
proposed
Are not thy garments warm, when the earth hath been blown upon by the south wind? We have often said already that blessed Job stands for a type of Holy Church. But all they, who are joined to it by the unity of the Faith, are the garments of the Church. Of which the Lord says to the same Church by the Prophet, As I live, thou shall be clothed with all these, as with an ornament. [Is.
Since the clouds are driven by the winds, he consequently adds the effect produced by the wind saying, "Are not your garments hot when the South wind blows on the earth?" For the South wind makes the air warm because it comes from warm regions. …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): Dost thou know this and know that which are the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge? The perfection of God's knowledge. It is one of the most glorious perfections of God that he is perfect in knowledge; he is omniscient.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
) that the wind out of the south is so far from being a whirlwind that it is a warming, quieting, wind. But at this time, perhaps, Elihu saw a whirlwind-cloud coming out of the south and making towards them, out of which the Lord spoke soon after, ch. xxxviii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
. [1.] How the weather becomes warm after it has been cold. We know how our garment came to be warm upon us, that is, how we come to be warm in our clothes, by reason of the warmth of the air we breathe in.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
How thy garments are warm, when he quieteth the earth by the south wind?
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
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" (So 4:16).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
How thy garments are warm - What are warmth and cold? How difficult this question! Is heat incontestably a substance, and is cold none? I am afraid we are in the dark on both these subjects. The existence of caloric, as a substance, is supposed to be demonstrated. Much, satisfactorily, has been said on this subject; but is it yet beyond doubt? I fear not. But supposing this question to be set at rest, is it demonstrated that cold is only a quality, the mere absence of heat? If it be demonstrated that there is such a substance as caloric, is it equally certain that there is no such substance as frigoric? But how do our garments keep us warm? By preventing the too great dissipation of the natural heat. And why is it that certain substances, worked into clothing, keep us warmer than others? Because they are bad conductors of caloric. Some substances conduct off the caloric or natural heat from the body; others do not conduct it at all, or imperfectly; hence those keep us warmest which, being bad conductors of caloric, do not permit the natural heat to be thrown off. In these things we know but little, after endless cares, anxieties, and experiments! But is the question yet satisfactorily answered, why the north wind brings cold, and the south wind heat? If it be so to my readers, it is not so to me; yet I know the reasons which are alleged.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֲשֶׁר־ | ʾasher- | [you] whom | H834 → | 5497 times |
| בְּגָדֶ֥יךָ | begadeikha | clothes your | H899 → | 217 times |
| חַמִּ֑ים | chamim | [are] hot | H2525 → | |
| בְּהַשְׁקִ֥ט | behashkit | when is still | H8252 → | 41 times |
| אֶ֝֗רֶץ | ʾeretz | [the] earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
| מִדָּרֽוֹם׃ | midarom | from [the] south | H1864 → |
אֲשֶׁר־[you] whom
ʾasher-H834 →5497 times
בְּגָדֶ֥יךָclothes your
begadeikhaH899 →217 times
חַמִּ֑ים[are] hot
chamimH2525 →
בְּהַשְׁקִ֥טwhen is still
behashkitH8252 →41 times
אֶ֝֗רֶץ[the] earth
ʾeretzH776 →2504 times
מִדָּרֽוֹם׃from [the] south
midaromH1864 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Job 38:31Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion?
it leads to
Through
Psalms 147:18He sends forth His word and melts them; He unleashes His winds, and the waters flow.
it leads to
- Psalms 33:9
For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm.
- Psalms 147:15
He sends forth His command to the earth; His word runs swiftly.
- Job 37:10
By the breath of God the ice is formed and the watery expanses are frozen.
- Job 6:16–17
darkened because of the ice and the inflow of melting snow,
- Psalms 107:20
He sent forth His word and healed them; He rescued them from the Pit.
- Psalms 33:9
Through
Job 6:17but ceasing in the dry season and vanishing from their channels in the heat.
it leads to
- Job 24:19
As drought and heat consume the melting snow, so Sheol steals those who have sinned.
- Job 24:19
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXVII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 37:17; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.