Job 37:2

Sodom and Gomorrah were laid in ruins by it. It is a sensible indication of what God could do to this sinful world, and what he will do, at last, by the fire to which it is reserved. Our hearts, like Elihu's should tremble at it for fear of God's judgments, Ps. cxix.

Hear attentively - “Hear with hearing.” The words seem to intimate that there was actually at that time a violent storm of thunder and lightning, and that the successive peals were now breaking over the house, and the lightning flashing before their eyes. The storm continued till Elihu had finished, and out of that storm the Almighty spoke. See the beginning of the succeeding chapter, Job 38 (note). The noise of his voice - The sudden clap. And the sound that goeth out - The peal or continued rattling, pounding, and thumping, to the end of the peal.

Hear attentively - Margin, as in Hebrew “hear in hearing;” that is, bear with attention. It has been supposed by many, and not without probability, that the tempest was already seen rising, out of which God was to address Job Job 38, and that Elihu here calls the special attention of his hearers to the gathering storm, and to the low muttering thunder in the distance. The noise of his voice - Thunder is often represented as the voice of God, and this was one of the most natural of all suppositions when its nature was little understood, and is at all times a beautiful poetic conception; see the whole of Psa 29:1-11. The word rendered “noise” (רגז rôgez), means properly “commotion,” that which is fitted to produce perturbation, or disquiet (see Job 3:17, Job 3:26; Isa 14:3), and is used here to denote the commotion, or “raging” of thunder. And the sound - The word used here (הגה hegeh) means properly a “muttering growling” - as of thunder. It is often used to denote sighing, moaning, and meditation, in contradistinction from clear enunciation. Here it refers to the thunder which seems to mutter or growl in the sky.