Job 37:3
in Job 37He unleashes His lightning beneath the whole sky and sends it to the ends of the earth.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He sendeth it forth under the whole heaven, And his lightning unto the ends of the earth.
KJV
He directeth it under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth.
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This verse in Job 37
Commentary
9 notes on this verseHe directeth it under the whole heaven,.... His voice of thunder, which rolls from one end of the heaven to the other: he charges the clouds with it, and directs both it and them where they shall go and discharge; what tree, house, or man, it shall strike; and where the rain shall fall when the clouds burst: yet Pliny (x) atheistically calls thunder and lightning chance matters.
This site's exposition
At this my heart also pounds
on Job 37:1-5
Elihu describes the storm arriving as he speaks: “Listen closely to the thunder of His voice”. Delitzsch reads this as the thunder Elihu names becoming audible in the scene. Henry takes verse 5, “He does great things we cannot comprehend”, as Elihu's summary confession ahead of the catalogue that follows.
This site's exposition
to the ends of the earth
The Hebrew for ends is wings, says Albert Barnes, the earth pictured as spread out. Adam Clarke notes that the flash crosses the whole sky in an instant. John Gill adds that God directs where each bolt will strike.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church3 voices
[By] the words "the judgment that comes from his mouth; under the whole heaven he will be praised," [the author] speaks about the thunder that is produced in the instant itself, in which punishment is inflicted on sinners; it is heard everywhere and everyone who …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XXVII · Written before 604.
proposed
He himself considereth under all the heavens, and His light is over the ends of the earth. As if it were plainly said; He who rules over the highest things, forsakes not even the most remote. Because His watchful rule is so directed towards the greatest concerns, as not to be kept from those which are little. For He Who is every where present, and every where equal, is not unlike Himself, even in unlike circumstances.
To preclude the error that God does not have another light higher than the corporeal light of heaven, he says, "Above all the heavens he examines," as if he should say: His vision is not below heaven but above it. Moreover, one can only see …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The claps of thunder roll under the whole heaven, and are heard far and near; so are the lightnings darted to the ends of the earth; they come out of the one part under heaven and shine to the other, Luke xvii.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
He directeth it under the whole heaven - It is under the control of God, and he directs it where he pleases. It is not confined to one spot, but seems to be complaining from every part of the heavens. And his lightning - Margin, as in Hebrew “light.” There can be no doubt that the lightning is intended. Unto the ends of the earth - Margin, as in Hebrew “wings.” The word wings is given to the earth from the idea of its being spread out or expanded like the wings of a bird; compare Job 38:13; Eze 7:
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
He directeth it under the whole heaven - He directeth it (the lightning) under the whole heaven, in the twinkling of an eye from east to west; and its light - the reflection of the flash, not the lightning, unto the ends of the earth, so that a whole hemisphere seems to see it at the same instant.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| תַּֽחַת־ | tachat- | under | H8478 → | 505 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הַשָּׁמַ֥יִם | hashamayim | the heavens | H8064 → | 421 times |
| יִשְׁרֵ֑הוּ | yishrehu | he lets loose it | H8281 → | |
| וְ֝אוֹר֗וֹ | veoro | and light his | H216 → | 121 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | to | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כַּנְפ֥וֹת | kanfot | [the] corners of | H3671 → | 109 times |
| הָאָֽרֶץ׃ | haaretz | the earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
תַּֽחַת־under
tachat-H8478 →505 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
הַשָּׁמַ֥יִםthe heavens
hashamayimH8064 →421 times
יִשְׁרֵ֑הוּhe lets loose it
yishrehuH8281 →
וְ֝אוֹר֗וֹand light his
veoroH216 →121 times
עַל־to
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
כַּנְפ֥וֹת[the] corners of
kanfotH3671 →109 times
הָאָֽרֶץ׃the earth
haaretzH776 →2504 times
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
Revelation 11:19Then the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple. And there were flashes of lightning, and rumblings, and peals of thunder, and an earthquake,…
it leads to
- Isaiah 30:30
And the LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard and His mighty arm to be revealed, striking in angry wrath with a flame of consuming fire, and with cloudburst, storm, and hailstones.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Revelation 16:21
And great hailstones weighing almost a hundred pounds each rained down on them from above. And men cursed God for the plague of hail, because it was so horrendous.
- Revelation 15:5–8
After this I looked, and the temple—the tabernacle of the Testimony—was opened in heaven.
- Ezekiel 38:22
I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed. I will pour out torrents of rain, hailstones, fire, and sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him.
- Revelation 4:5
From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings, and peals of thunder. Before the throne burned seven torches of fire. These are the seven Spirits of God.
- Isaiah 30:30
Through
Isaiah 11:12He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; He will collect the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
it leads to
- Isaiah 43:6
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back!’ Bring My sons from afar, and My daughters from the ends of the earth—
- Isaiah 56:8
Thus declares the Lord GOD, who gathers the dispersed of Israel: “I will gather to them still others besides those already gathered.”
- Isaiah 43:6
Through
Matthew 24:27For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
it leads to
- Luke 17:24–37
For just as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other, so will be the Son of Man in His day.
- Luke 17:24–37
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXVII; Ishodad of Merv, COMMENTARY ON JOB 37:2; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.