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Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Job 38:37

Who can stay the bottles of heaven? — This is understood in two opposite senses — of pouring out the bottles or of laying them up in store. It is not easy to decide which is most in accordance with the context, for the context also is somewhat uncertain, according as we interpret the solid mass of thick mud or of hard, dry soil. The survey of physical phenomena ends with this verse.

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See also Job 38:37 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Job 38:37. _WHO CAN NUMBER THE CLOUDS_] Perhaps the word ספר _saphar_, which is commonly rendered to _number_, may here mean, as in Arabic, to _irradiate_, as Mr. _Good_ contends; and may refer...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    WHO CAN NUMBER THE CLOUDS? - The word here rendered “clouds” (שׁחקים _shachaqiym_) is applied to the clouds as made up of “small particles” - as if they were composed of fine dust, and hence, the word...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    V. THE LORD'S TESTIMONY TO JOB AND CONTROVERSY WITH HIM CHAPTER 38:1-38 _ 1. The Lord speaks to Job (Job 38:1)_ 2. The questions of the Lord (Job 38:4) Job 38:1. The voice of man is hushed; the voi...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    THE WONDERS OF THE INANIMATE CREATION. Where was Job when the earth was made? The work of creation is described as the building of a house. In Job 38:7 the stars, which are older than the world (contr...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    The verse carries on the thought of the preceding. _who can number_ Or, WHO NUMBERETH IN WISDOM? Who musters or counts off the clouds, that they be sufficient and not in excess for the purpose requir...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    The direction of the regular movements of the heavens, and their influence upon the earth....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    The wonders of the heavens....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    A survey of the inanimate creation, the wonders of earth and sky the earth, Job 38:4; the heavens, Job 38:18...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    _THE SHATTERING OF SILENCE_ VI. THE PRESENCE OF GOD AND THE PENITENCE OF JOB (Job 38:1, Job 42:6) A. INTEGRITY, CERTAINTY, AND KNOWLEDGE (Job 38:1, Job 40:2) 1.

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    _WHO CAN NUMBER THE CLOUDS IN WISDOM? OR WHO CAN STAY THE BOTTLES OF HEAVEN,_ _ WHO CAN NUMBER THE CLOUDS IN WISDOM? OR WHO CAN STAY THE BOTTLES OF HEAVEN,_ Who appoints by his wisdom the due measure...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    THE FIRST SPEECH OF THE ALMIGHTY (JOB 38:39) The marvels of creation, which witness to the infinite wisdom, power, and watchful care of the Creator, are presented to Job in such a way as to force fro...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    IN] RV 'by.' STAY] RV 'pour out.' BOTTLES OF HEAVEN] i.e. rain-clouds. 37-41. These vv. are connected in subject with Job 39....

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    JOB, A SERVANT OF GOD Job _KEITH SIMONS_ Words in boxes (except for words in brackets) are from the Bible. This commentary has been through Advanced Checking. CHAPTER 38 GOD BEGINS HIS SPEECH...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    Job and his friends had just watched a storm. And the storm impressed them. The lightning was very powerful. The rain changed the solid ground into mud. Job had said that God’s power was like the powe...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    מִֽי ־יְסַפֵּ֣ר שְׁחָקִ֣ים בְּ חָכְמָ֑ה וְ נִ

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    XXVII. "MUSIC IN THE BOUNDS OF LAW" Job 38:1 OVER the shadowed life of Job, and the world shadowed for him by his own intellectual and moral gloom, a storm sweeps, and from the storm issues a voice....

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    WHAT MAN CANNOT DO Job 38:19 In this chapter a number of nature-pictures pass before us. These include the creation of the earth, Job 38:4; the sea, Job 38:8; light,...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    Here begins the third movement in the great drama, that which deals with the controversy between Jehovah and Job. Out of the midst of the whirlwind the divine voice speaks. Its first word is a challen...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the (y) bottles of heaven, (y) That is, the clouds in which the water is contained as in bottles....

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    _Sleep. The ancients have celebrated this harmony. (Cic.[Cicero?] Somn. Scip.) --- Septuagint, "Who numbereth the clouds in wisdom, or hath bent the sky down to the earth?" Protestants, "or who can st...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    (4) В¶ Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. (5) Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? ...

  • John Brown Commentaries Selected Books of the Bible

    God Speaks Job Repents I. INTRODUCTION A. Last week we covered a lot of territory! 1. We finished with Elihu's speeches to Job and found that, although he was a lot more accurate in what he had to...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 38 THROUGH 42. Jehovah then speaks, and addressing Job, carries on the subject. He makes Job sensible of his nothingness. Job confesses himself to be vile, an...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    WHO CAN NUMBER THE CLOUDS IN WISDOM?.... Or has such wisdom as to be able to count them when the heavens are full of them; hence they are used to denote a great multitude, Isaiah 55:8; or "declare" th...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    _Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven,_ Ver. 37. _Who can number the clouds in wisdom?_] _Quis sapphirinas efficit nubes?_ Who can make the clouds like sapphire,...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Who can number the clouds in wisdom?_ Who can wisely search, and exactly find out, the number of the clouds? which are indeed numberless, and filled with water as the next clause implies. _Or who can...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    Who can number the clouds in wisdom, appointing to them their number and extent? OR WHO CAN STAY THE BOTTLES OF HEAVEN, who tilts them, who pours out their liquid contents,...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    God's Majesty in the Wonders above the Earth...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    Marvellously, God Himself directly intervenes in this discussion so early in the history of man. The storm that had been brewing as Elihu spoke becomes a whirlwind, and God spoke to Job out of the whi...

  • Marginal Notes in the King James Version (1611)

    WHO CAN STAY: _ Heb._ who can cause to lie down...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    25-41 Hitherto God had put questions to Job to show him his ignorance; now God shows his weakness. As it is but little that he knows, he ought not to arraign the Divine counsels; it is but little he...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    Who can wisely search out and exactly find the number of the clouds? They are numberless, and filled with water, as the next clause implies. WHO CAN STAY THE BOTTLES OF HEAVEN, to wit, the clouds? in...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Job 38:37 number H5608 (H8762) clouds H7834 wisdom H2451 out H7901 (H8686) bottles H5035 heaven H8064

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: God's challenge to Job. CHARACTERS: God, Job. CONCLUSION: Those who try to call God to account, will be called to account. Seeking to establish one's own character and darkening the counse...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Job 38:1. _The whirlwind._ Clouds and flames are the chariots of the Lord, in deigning to speak with men. When he spake to Elijah in Horeb, it was with wind, and fire, and earthquake. Likewise in Psal...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    JOB—NOTE ON JOB 38:12 The Lord reminds Job that he cannot see fully what the Lord is doing about justice and judgment (see vv. Job 38:13,...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _JEHOVAH’S ADDRESS TO JOB_ Elihu had now said all he intended. Possibly interrupted by the storm which had been gathering during his speech. Out of the storm-cloud, from which already issued thunders...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    CLOSE OF THE CONTROVERSY BY THE INTERFERENCE OF THE ALMIGHTY. EXPOSITION The discourse, by which the Almighty answers Job and rebukes his "friends," occupies four chapters (ch. 38-41.). It is broken...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou m...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Genesis 15:5; Genesis 8:1; Genesis 9:15; Psalms 147:4...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    GOD SPEAKS TO JOB Job 38:1 _to Job 42:1_ INTRODUCTORY WORDS God's words to Job do not carry much by way of the explanation of redemption. Job was a child of God, and well-instructed on those lines....

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