Job 37:4
in Job 37Then there comes a roaring sound; He thunders with His majestic voice. He does not restrain the lightning when His voice resounds.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
After it a voice roareth; He thundereth with the voice of his majesty; And he restraineth not the lightnings when his voice is heard.
KJV
After it a voice roareth: he thundereth with the voice of his excellency; and he will not stay them when his voice is heard.
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This verse in Job 37
Commentary
9 notes on this verseAfter Him a sound will roar. He will thunder with the voice of His greatness. And He will not be enquired into, when His Voice hath been heard. For the Lord doubtless turns into sorrow the life of him whom He has filled with His illumination; and the more He suggests to the enlightened mind eternal punishments, the more cruelly does He weary it with sorrow for its past wickedness; and a man grieves at what he was, because he now begins to discern the good which he was not. He hates himself, as he remembers himself to have been.
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
Then there comes a roaring sound
The lightning comes first and the roaring sound after, as Albert Barnes and Matthew Henry note. The gap depends on how far off the thunder is. Henry compares it to seeing a great gun fire far off before its sound comes.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Just as the material light of heaven is below him, so also the sound of material thunder is beneath him, and so he says, "After him," that is, under him, "the sound will roar," of material thunder. Moreover, he has another spiritual voice, the teaching …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
After it a voice roareth,.... After the lightning comes a violent crack or clap of thunder, which is like the roaring of a lion. Such is the order of thunder and lightning, according to our sense and apprehension of them; otherwise in nature they are together: but the reasons given why the lightning is seen before, and so the same in the flash and report of a gun, are, because the sense of seeing is quicker than the sense of hearing (y); and the motion of light is quicker than that of sound; which latter is the truest reason (z).
The flash of fire, and the noise it makes in a watery cloud, are really at the same time; but, because the motion of light is much quicker than that of sound, we see the lightning some time before we hear the thunder, as we see the firing of a great gun at a distance before we hear the report of it.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
After it a voice roareth - After the flash has been seen, the peal is heard; and this will be more or fewer seconds after the peal, in proportion to the distance of the thunder cloud from the ear. Lightning traverses any space without any perceivable succession of time; nothing seems to be any obstacle to its progress.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The thunderclap follows at an interval after the flash. stay them--He will not hold back the lightnings (Job 37:3), when the thunder is heard [MAURER]. Rather, take "them" as the usual concomitants of thunder, namely, rain and hail [UMBREIT] (Job 40:9).
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
After it a voice roareth - After the lightning; that is, the flash is seen before the thunder is heard. This is apparent to all, the interval between the lightning and the hearing of the thunder depending on the distance. Lucretius, who has referred to the same fact, compares this with what occurs when a woodman is seen at a distance to wield an axe. The glance of the axe is seen long before the sound of the blow is heard: Sed tonitrum fit uti post antibus accipiamus, Fulgere quam cernunt ocuil, quia semper ad aures Tardius adveniunt, quam visum, guam moveant res. Nunc etiam licet id cognoscere, caedere si quem Ancipiti videas ferro procul arboris actum. Ante fit, ut cernas ictum, quam plaga per aures Det sonitum: Sic fulgorem quoque cernimus ante. Lib. vi. He thundereth with the voice of his excellency - That is, with a voice of majesty and grandeur. And he will not stay them - That is, he will not hold back the rain, hail, and other things which accompany the storm, when he begins to thunder. “Rosenmuller.” Or, according to others, he will not hold back and restrain the lightnings when the thunder commences. But the connection seems rather to demand that we should understand it of the usual accompaniments of a storm - the wind, hail, rain, etc. Herder renders it, “We cannot explore his thunderings.” Prof. Lee, “And none can trace them, though their voice be heard.” According to him, the meaning is, that “great and terrific as this exhibition of God’s power is, still the progress of these, his ministers, cannot be followed by the mortal eye.” But the usual interpretation given to the Hebrew word is that of “holding back,” or “retarding,” and this idea accords well with the connection.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַחֲרָ֤יו׀ | ʾacharav | after it | H310 → | 715 times |
| יִשְׁאַג־ | yishag- | it roars | H7580 → | |
| ק֗וֹל | kol | a voice | H6963 → | 506 times |
| יַ֭רְעֵם | yarem | he thunders | H7481 → | 13 times |
| בְּק֣וֹל | bekol | with [the] voice of | H6963 → | 506 times |
| גְּאוֹנ֑וֹ | geono | majesty his | H1347 → | 49 times |
| וְלֹ֥א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יְ֝עַקְּבֵ֗ם | yeakevem | he holds back them | H6117 → | |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | if | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יִשָּׁמַ֥ע | yishama' | it is heard | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| קוֹלֽוֹ׃ | kolo | voice his | H6963 → | 506 times |
אַחֲרָ֤יו׀after it
ʾacharavH310 →715 times
יִשְׁאַג־it roars
yishag-H7580 →
ק֗וֹלa voice
kolH6963 →506 times
יַ֭רְעֵםhe thunders
yaremH7481 →13 times
בְּק֣וֹלwith [the] voice of
bekolH6963 →506 times
גְּאוֹנ֑וֹmajesty his
geonoH1347 →49 times
וְלֹ֥אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
יְ֝עַקְּבֵ֗םhe holds back them
yeakevemH6117 →
כִּֽי־if
ki-H3588 →4482 times
יִשָּׁמַ֥עit is heard
yishama'H8085 →1159 times
קוֹלֽוֹ׃voice his
koloH6963 →506 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
Deuteronomy 33:26“There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to your aid, and the clouds in His majesty.
it leads to
- Exodus 15:11
Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You—majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?
- Isaiah 43:11–13
I, yes I, am the LORD, and there is no Savior but Me.
- Habakkuk 3:8
Were You angry at the rivers, O LORD? Was Your wrath against the streams? Did You rage against the sea when You rode on Your horses, on Your chariots of salvation?
- Jeremiah 10:6
There is none like You, O LORD. You are great, and Your name is mighty in power.
- Psalms 68:33–34
to Him who rides upon the highest heavens of old; behold, His mighty voice resounds.
- Exodus 15:11
Through
Psalms 68:33to Him who rides upon the highest heavens of old; behold, His mighty voice resounds.
it leads to
- Psalms 104:3
laying the beams of His chambers in the waters above, making the clouds His chariot, walking on the wings of the wind.
- Psalms 18:10
He mounted a cherub and flew; He soared on the wings of the wind.
- Psalms 68:4
Sing to God! Sing praises to His name. Exalt Him who rides on the clouds— His name is the LORD— and rejoice before Him.
- Psalms 104:3
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; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.