Job 37:5
in Job 37God thunders wondrously with His voice; He does great things we cannot comprehend.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
God thundereth marvellously with his voice; Great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend.
KJV
God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend.
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This verse in Job 37
Commentary
9 notes on this verseGod will thunder marvellously with His voice. Who doeth great things and inscrutable. God thunders marvellously with His voice, because He penetrates our hearts incomprehensibly with His secret might. For while with its secret motions it overpowers us with fear, and fashions us in love, it proclaims in some silent manner how eagerly He is to be followed, and a violent impulse arises in the mind, though nothing sounds in the voice. And it sounds the more loudly within us, the more completely it deadens the ear of our heart to every outward sound.
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
He does great things we cannot comprehend
Albert Barnes marks this as the end of the thunder. From here Elihu turns to other great things men cannot comprehend. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown compare Psalm 29, where the voice of God sounds again and again.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
But the voice is not only ordered to the teaching of men who hear it, but also to the perfection of natural works which happen following the command of divine wisdom. Therefore, he repeats a second time, "God will thunder in his voice," in the …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
God thundereth marvellously with his voice,....
Does God thunder thus marvellously with his voice? We must then conclude that his other works are great, and such as we cannot comprehend. From this one instance we may argue to all, that, in the dispensations of his providence, there is that which is too great, too strong, for us to oppose or strive against, and too high, too deep, for us to arraign or quarrel with.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
God thundereth marvelously - He thunders in a wonderful manner. The idea is, that the voice of his thunder is an amazing exhibition of his majesty and power. Great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend - That is, not only in regard to the thunder and the tempest, but in other things. The description of the storm properly ends here, and in the subsequent verses Elihu proceeds to specify various other phenomena, which were wholly incomprehensible by man.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The sublimity of the description lies in this, that God is everywhere in the storm, directing it whither He will [BARNES]. See Ps 29:1-11, where, as here, the "voice" of God is repeated with grand effect. The thunder in Arabia is sublimely terrible.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
God thundereth marvellously with his voice - This is the conclusion of Elihu’s description of the lightning and thunder: and here only should chapter 36 have ended. He began, Job 36:29, with the noise of God’s tabernacle; and he ends here with the marvellous thundering of Jehovah. Probably the writer of the book of Job had seen the description of a similar thunder storm as given by the psalmist, Psa 77:16-19: - Psa 77:16 The waters saw thee, O God! The waters saw thee, and were afraid. Yea, the deeps were affrighted! Psa 77:17 The clouds poured out water; The ethers sent forth a sound; Yea, thine arrows went abroad. Psa 77:18 The voice of thy thunder was through the expanse: The lightnings illumined the globe; The earth trembled and shook! Psa 77:19 Thy way is in the sea, And thy paths on many waters; But thy footsteps are not known. Great things doeth he - This is the beginning of a new paragraph; and relates particularly to the phenomena which are afterwards mentioned. All of them wondrous things; and, in many respects, to us incomprehensible.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יַרְעֵ֤ם | yarem | he thunders | H7481 → | 13 times |
| אֵ֣ל | ʾel | God | H410 → | 241 times |
| בְּ֭קוֹלוֹ | bekolo | with voice his | H6963 → | 506 times |
| נִפְלָא֑וֹת | niflaot | wonders | H6381 → | 71 times |
| עֹשֶׂ֥ה | ʾoseh | [he is] doing | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| גְ֝דֹל֗וֹת | gedolot | great [things] | H1419 → | 526 times |
| וְלֹ֣א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| נֵדָֽע׃ | neda' | we know | H3045 → | 945 times |
יַרְעֵ֤םhe thunders
yaremH7481 →13 times
אֵ֣לGod
ʾelH410 →241 times
בְּ֭קוֹלוֹwith voice his
bekoloH6963 →506 times
נִפְלָא֑וֹתwonders
niflaotH6381 →71 times
עֹשֶׂ֥ה[he is] doing
ʾosehH6213 →2628 times
גְ֝דֹל֗וֹתgreat [things]
gedolotH1419 →526 times
וְלֹ֣אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
נֵדָֽע׃we know
neda'H3045 →945 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
Romans 11:33O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!
it leads to
- Job 5:9
the One who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Job 11:7–9
Can you fathom the deep things of God or discover the limits of the Almighty?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 5:9
Through
Ecclesiastes 3:11He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end.
it leads to
- Romans 11:33
O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Romans 1:19–20
For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
- Job 11:7
Can you fathom the deep things of God or discover the limits of the Almighty?
- Romans 11:33
Through
Isaiah 40:28Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary; His understanding is beyond searching…
it leads to
- Romans 11:33–34
O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!
- Psalms 147:5
Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit.
- 1 Timothy 1:17
Now to the King eternal, immortal, and invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
- Romans 11:33–34
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.