When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder:
Parallel translations
- WEB When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder;
- BSB when He set a limit for the rain and a path for the thunderbolt,
- NKJV When He made a law for the rain, And a path for the thunderbolt,
- NASB When He made a limit for the rain, And a course for the thunderbolt,
- NLT He made the laws for the rain and laid out a path for the lightning.
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
God set a decree for the rain and a path for the thunderbolt.
Overview
Job continues to portray God's wise ordering of the natural world, appointing the rain's measure and the lightning's course. These hidden laws of weather testify to the Creator's understanding. The verse magnifies God's sovereign wisdom over creation, the same wisdom He graciously imparts to those who fear Him (verse 28).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Job 38:25Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;
- Job 37:3He directeth it under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth.
- Zech 10:1Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.
- Job 36:26Behold, God is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of his years be searched out.
- Job 36:32With clouds he covereth the light; and commandeth it not to shine by the cloud that cometh betwixt.
- Amos 4:7And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.
- Ps 148:8Fire, and hail; snow, and vapours; stormy wind fulfilling his word:
- Jer 14:22Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things.
- Ps 29:3–10The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters.
- Job 37:11Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his bright cloud:
- Job 38:27To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 28:26 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.