1 My heart p pounds at this
and leaps from my chest.
2 Just listen to his thunderous voice
and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
3 He lets it loose beneath the entire sky;
his lightning to the ends q of the earth.
4 Then there comes a roaring sound;
God thunders r with his majestic voice.
He does not restrain the lightning
when his rumbling voice is heard.
5 God thunders wondrously with his voice;
he does great things that we cannot comprehend.
6 For he says to the snow, s “Fall to the earth,”
and the torrential rains, his mighty torrential rains,
7 serve as his sign to all mankind,
so that all men may know his work.
8 The wild animals enter their lairs
and stay in their dens. t
9 The windstorm comes from its chamber,
and the cold from the driving north winds.
10 Ice is formed by the breath of God, u
and watery expanses are frozen.
11 He saturates clouds with moisture; v
he scatters his lightning through them.
12 They swirl about,
turning round and round at his direction,
accomplishing everything he commands them
over the surface of the inhabited world.
13 He causes this to happen for punishment,
for his land, or for his faithful love.
14 Listen to this, Job.
Stop and consider God’s wonders.
15 Do you know how God directs his clouds
or makes their lightning flash?
16 Do you understand how the clouds float,
those wonderful works of him who has perfect knowledge?
17 You whose clothes get hot
when the south wind brings calm to the land,
18 can you help God spread out the skies
as hard as a cast metal mirror?
19 Teach us what we should say to him; w
we cannot prepare our case because of our darkness.
20 Should he be told that I want to speak?
Can a man speak when he is confused?
21 Now no one can even look at the sun
when it is in the skies,
after a wind has swept through and cleared the clouds away.
22 Yet out of the north he comes, shrouded in a golden glow;
awesome x majesty surrounds him.
23 The Almighty—we cannot reach him—
he is exalted in power!
He will not violate justice and abundant righteousness,
24 therefore, men fear him.
He does not look favorably on any who are wise y in heart.
37:1–5. In chapter 37 Elihu continues to employ the storm imagery to picture God’s awesome power and majesty. As Elihu observes God’s mighty display of power in the storm, he has a strong emotional response (37:1). This rush of adrenaline is similar to what Habakkuk (Hab 3:6) and the psalmist in Ps 29 feel as they view the awesome power of God evidenced in the natural world. In 37:8, the storm has a comparable effect on the animals, which scurry to take cover in their dens.
37:6–13. By his inscrutable actions (37:6–12), God accomplishes a variety of purposes (37:13). Sometimes God acts in order to correct evil, as he did when delivering the people of Israel from bondage in Egypt. Sometimes God acts for the benefit of his creation apart from any human consideration (cf. 38:26). Sometimes God acts out of his loyal love for his people. In contrast to the simplistic retribution formula that the friends have expounded, there is no single purpose that governs all that God does in the world.
37:14–20. Once again, Elihu appeals to Job to consider God’s wonders in the natural world (37:14). Using the familiar teaching strategy of traditional wisdom (e.g., Pr 6:6), Elihu calls on Job to observe and be wise. Elihu follows this entreaty with a string of rhetorical questions in 37:15–20 that suggest how little Job really understands of God’s ways and how much he needs to learn. Elihu’s implication is clear: if Job cannot understand God’s dealings in the world of nature, then how can he reasonably expect to comprehend how God works with humans like him?
37:21–24. Elihu describes the breaking of a storm as the sunlight streams through the clouds (37:21–22). This vivid picture from nature is a fitting illustration of the awesome majesty of God Almighty. Just as the sun’s light is too intense to look at, no human can comprehend the majesty of God. Neither can they by their efforts manipulate what God does (37:23). They can, however, be certain that God is always just and righteous in his dealings. God, then, does not expect humans to comprehend all that he does, but he does want them to trust him to do what is just and right. With these words, Elihu anticipates—more than he realizes—the conclusion of the book, when Job will acknowledge that he cannot understand God’s ways, and yet he will submit to him (42:2–6). [Justice]