Job 38:36

The verse is obscure, owing to the terms "inward parts" and "heart" being of uncertain meaning. The translation of the A.V. may be certainly set aside, (1) because the introduction of a reference to the "inward parts" and "heart" of man in the middle of a description of celestial phenomena is not to be thought of; and (2) any laudatory reference to man is out of keeping with the whole drift of the speech, the purpose of which is to abase man before the wonders of God's creation and His operations outside the sphere of man's life. The word rendered "inward parts" may be the same as that so rendered, Psalms 51:6. There the parallel word is "hidden part," and the reference may be to the dark and deep cloud-masses. The word "heart" does not occur again; it may mean, form, figure, and refer to the manifold cloud formations or phenomena. These fulfilling the purposes of God seem themselves endowed with wisdom. If this be the sense, the best commentary on the verse would be the words of Elihu, ch. Job 37:12, "And it (the cloud) turneth about every way by His guidance, that it may do whatsoever He commandeth it upon the face of the whole earth."