Limitless Word
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.”
Jeremiah 51:16 · New King James Version
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.
  • BSB 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.
  • 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 135:7who causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth; who makes lightnings with the rain; who brings the wind out of his treasuries;
  • Ps 18:13Yahweh also thundered in the sky. The Most High uttered his voice: hailstones and coals of fire.
  • Jonah 1:4But Yahweh sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty storm on the sea, so that the ship was likely to break up.
  • Jer 10:12–13He has made the earth by his power. he has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens.
  • Ps 147:18He sends out his word, and melts them. He causes his wind to blow, and the waters flow.
  • Job 36:26–33Behold, God is great, and we don’t know him. The number of his years is unsearchable.
  • Ps 78:26He caused the east wind to blow in the sky. By his power he guided the south wind.
  • Ps 68:33To him who rides on the heaven of heavens, which are of old; behold, he utters his voice, a mighty voice.
  • Ps 29:3–10Yahweh’s voice is on the waters. The God of glory thunders, even Yahweh on many waters.
  • Exod 14:21Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and Yahweh caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
  • Job 38:22Have you entered the treasuries of the snow, or have you seen the treasures of the hail,
  • Amos 9:7Are you not like the children of the Ethiopians to me, children of Israel?” says Yahweh. “Haven’t I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?
  • Exod 10:19Yahweh turned an exceeding strong west wind, which took up the locusts, and drove them into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the borders of Egypt.
  • Job 38:34–38“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That abundance of waters may cover you?
  • Job 40:9Or do you have an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like him?
  • Ps 46:6The nations raged. The kingdoms were moved. He lifted his voice, and the earth melted.
  • Job 37:2–11Hear, oh, hear the noise of his voice, the sound that goes out of his mouth.
  • Gen 8:1God remembered Noah, all the animals, and all the livestock that were with him in the ship; and God made a wind to pass over the earth. The waters subsided.
  • Matt 8:26–27He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then he got up, rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm.
  • Ezek 10:5The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.
  • Exod 10:13Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and Yahweh brought an east wind on the land all that day, and all night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.
  • Ps 104:7At your rebuke they fled. At the voice of your thunder they hurried away.
  • Job 37:13Whether it is for correction, or for his land, or for loving kindness, that he causes it to come.
  • Jonah 4:8When the sun arose, God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he fainted, and requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Jeremiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Jeremiah 51:16YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JeremiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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.