“Behold, these are the fringes of His ways; And how faint a word we hear of Him! But His mighty thunder, who can understand?”
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways. How small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?”
- KJV Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?
- BSB Indeed, these are but the fringes of His ways; how faint is the whisper we hear of Him! Who then can understand the thunder of His power?”
- NKJV Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, And how small a whisper we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?”
- NLT These are just the beginning of all that he does, merely a whisper of his power. Who, then, can comprehend the thunder of his power?”
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
Job says all this is but the faint edges of God's ways, a mere whisper of His power. It matters because it humbles us before God's incomprehensible greatness.
Overview
Job concludes his hymn by saying these wonders are only the outskirts of God's works, a small whisper compared to the thunder of His full power that no one can grasp. God's true greatness vastly exceeds all we perceive. This holy humility before the immeasurable God is the proper posture for all creatures, and it magnifies the grace by which He stoops to save us in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Isa 40:26–29Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, Not one is lacking.
- Ps 145:3Great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised! His greatness is unsearchable.
- Job 11:7–9“Can you fathom the mystery of God? Or can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
- Rom 11:33Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!
- Ps 139:6This knowledge is beyond me. It’s lofty. I can’t attain it.
- Ps 29:3Yahweh’s voice is on the waters. The God of glory thunders, even Yahweh on many waters.
- Job 36:29Yes, can any understand the spreading of the clouds, and the thunderings of his pavilion?
- Job 40:9Or do you have an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like him?
- Job 4:12“Now a thing was secretly brought to me. My ear received a whisper of it.
- 1 Cor 13:9–12For we know in part, and we prophesy in part;
- 1 Sam 2:10Those who strive with Yahweh shall be broken to pieces. He will thunder against them in the sky. “Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 26:14 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.