When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.
Parallel translations
- WEB When he utters his voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and brings the wind out of his treasuries.
- KJV When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.
- NKJV When He utters His voice— There is a multitude of waters in the heavens: “He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightnings for the rain; He brings the wind out of His treasuries.”
- NASB When He utters His voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens, And He makes the clouds ascend from the end of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain And brings out wind from His storehouses.
- NLT When he speaks in the thunder, the heavens roar with rain. He causes the clouds to rise over the earth. He sends the lightning with the rain and releases the wind from his storehouses.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
At God's voice the waters roar, clouds rise, lightning and rain come, and He brings wind from His storehouses. The Lord governs all nature with effortless authority.
Overview
Continuing the creation hymn, this verse shows God's active control over weather and the elements that pagans attributed to their storm gods. Every thunderclap and gust answers to His command. Such mastery over creation assures believers that the same sovereign Lord directs history, including Babylon's fall, and that He is worthy of the trust offered to His Son who stilled the storm.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 24
- Ps 135:7He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.
- Ps 18:13The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded—hailstones and coals of fire.
- Jonah 1:4Then the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship was in danger of breaking apart.
- Jer 10:12–13The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.
- Ps 147:18He sends forth His word and melts them; He unleashes His winds, and the waters flow.
- Job 36:26–33Indeed, God is great—beyond our knowledge; the number of His years is unsearchable.
- Ps 78:26He stirred the east wind from the heavens and drove the south wind by His might.
- Ps 68:33to Him who rides upon the highest heavens of old; behold, His mighty voice resounds.
- Ps 29:3–10The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders; the LORD is heard over many waters.
- Exod 14:21Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were divided,
- Job 38:22Have you entered the storehouses of snow or observed the storehouses of hail,
- Amos 9:7“Are you not like the Cushites to Me, O children of Israel?” declares the LORD. “Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Arameans from Kir?
- Exod 10:19And the LORD changed the wind to a very strong west wind that carried off the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust remained anywhere in Egypt.
- Job 38:34–38Can you command the clouds so that a flood of water covers you?
- Job 40:9Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like His?
- Ps 46:6Nations rage, kingdoms crumble; the earth melts when He lifts His voice.
- Job 37:2–11Listen closely to the thunder of His voice and the rumbling that comes from His mouth.
- Gen 8:1But God remembered Noah and all the animals and livestock that were with him in the ark. And God sent a wind over the earth, and the waters began to subside.
- Matt 8:26–27“You of little faith,” Jesus replied, “why are you so afraid?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it was perfectly calm.
- Ezek 10:5The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when He speaks.
- Exod 10:13So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and throughout that day and night the LORD sent an east wind across the land. By morning the east wind had brought the locusts.
- Ps 104:7At Your rebuke the waters fled; at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away—
- Job 37:13Whether for punishment or for His land, He accomplishes this in His loving devotion.
- Jonah 4:8As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint and wished to die, saying, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 51:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.