Job 37:9
in Job 37The tempest comes from its chamber, and the cold from the driving north winds.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Out of the chamber of the south cometh the storm, And cold out of the north.
KJV
Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the north.
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This verse in Job 37
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA tempest will come forth from the inner parts, and cold from Arcturus. When Holy Scripture mentions the inner parts, in opposition to Arcturus, it designates the quarter of the South, opposite to the parts of the North.
This site's exposition
He says to the snow
on Job 37:6-13
Snow, rain, ice and wind come under one command: “He says to the snow”, and “By the breath of God the ice is formed”. Gill reads “He seals up the hand of every man” as winter halting labor by God's decree, “so that all men may know His work”.
This site's exposition
The tempest comes from its chamber
The Hebrew word, cheder, means an inner room or chamber, as Albert Barnes explains. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown picture God keeping the tempest in His chambers of the south until He sends it out. The cold comes from the north.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Then he shows the effects of the different winds. On this subject one must consider that the South winds produce the rains and storms. North winds cause cold air. Southern winds come to us from the direction of the South Pole, which is unknown to …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): Out of the hidden place (so it may be read) comes the whirlwind; it turns round, and so it is hard to say from which point it comes but it comes from the secret chamber, as the word signifies, which I am not so willing to understand of the south, because he says here (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
Out of the south cometh the whirlwind,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Out of the south - Margin, “chamber.” Jerome, “ab interioribus - from the interior,” or “inner places.” Septuagint, ἐκ ταυείων ek taueiōn - “from their chambers issue sorrows” - ὀωύνας othunas. The Hebrew word used here (חדר cheder) denotes properly “an apartment,” or “chamber,” especially an inner apartment, or a chamber in the interior of a house or tent: Gen 43:30; Jdg 16:9, Jdg 16:12. Hence, it means a bed-chamber, 2Sa 4:7, or a female apartment or harem, Son 1:4; Son 3:
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
south--literally, "chambers"; connected with the south (Job 9:9). The whirlwinds are poetically regarded as pent up by God in His southern chambers, whence He sends them forth (so Job 38:22;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Out of the south cometh the whirlwind - See the note on Job 9:9. What is rendered south here, is there rendered chambers. Mr. Good translates here, the utmost zone. The Chaldee: - “From the supreme chamber the commotion shall come; and from the cataracts of Arcturus the cold.” What the whirlwind, סופה suphah, is, we know not. It might have been a wind peculiar to that district; and it is very possible that it was a scorching wind, something like the simoom.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מִן־ | min- | from | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| הַ֭חֶדֶר | hacheder | the chamber | H2315 → | |
| תָּב֣וֹא | tavo' | it comes | H935 → | 2568 times |
| סוּפָ֑ה | sufah | a storm-wind | H5492 → | 16 times |
| וּֽמִמְּזָרִ֥ים | umimezarim | and from [the] scattering winds | H4215 → | |
| קָרָֽה׃ | karah | coldness | H7135 → |
מִן־from
min-H4480 →1188 times
הַ֭חֶדֶרthe chamber
hachederH2315 →
תָּב֣וֹאit comes
tavo'H935 →2568 times
סוּפָ֑הa storm-wind
sufahH5492 →16 times
וּֽמִמְּזָרִ֥יםand from [the] scattering winds
umimezarimH4215 →
קָרָֽה׃coldness
karahH7135 →
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
Psalms 104:3laying the beams of His chambers in the waters above, making the clouds His chariot, walking on the wings of the wind.
it leads to
- Amos 9:6
He builds His upper rooms in the heavens and founds His vault upon the earth. He summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth. The LORD is…
- 2 Samuel 22:11
He mounted a cherub and flew; He soared on the wings of the wind.
- Psalms 18:10–11
He mounted a cherub and flew; He soared on the wings of the wind.
- Amos 9:6
Through
Job 9:9He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, of the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
it leads to
- Amos 5:8
He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth—the LORD…
- Genesis 1:16
God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. And He made the stars as well.
- Job 38:31–41
Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion?
- Amos 5:8
Through
Job 38:1Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
it leads to
- Job 40:6
Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
- Job 40:6
Through
Isaiah 21:1This is the burden against the Desert by the Sea: Like whirlwinds sweeping through the Negev, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror.
it leads to
- Isaiah 14:23
“I will make her a place for owls and for swamplands; I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of Hosts.
- Isaiah 14:23
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 on the Book of Job; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); 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; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.