Furthermore, who can understand how the clouds spread out, how the thunder roars from His pavilion?
Parallel translations
- WEB Yes, can any understand the spreading of the clouds, and the thunderings of his pavilion?
- KJV Also can any understand the spreadings of the clouds, or the noise of his tabernacle?
- NKJV Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading of clouds, The thunder from His canopy?
- NASB “Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, The thundering of His pavilion?
- NLT Who can understand the spreading of the clouds and the thunder that rolls forth from heaven?
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
Elihu asks whether anyone can understand the spreading clouds and the thunder of God's pavilion. God's workings in the heavens exceed human comprehension.
Overview
Elihu poses a rhetorical question highlighting the mystery of clouds and thunder, picturing the sky as God's dwelling or tent. No one can fully explain these heavenly workings, underscoring God's incomprehensible majesty. This wonder before creation prepares for the LORD's similar questions in chapters 38-39 and humbles us before the God whose greatness we worship in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Job 37:16Do you understand how the clouds float, those wonders of Him who is perfect in knowledge?
- Job 37:2–5Listen closely to the thunder of His voice and the rumbling that comes from His mouth.
- Ps 18:13The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded—hailstones and coals of fire.
- Ps 104:7At Your rebuke the waters fled; at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away—
- Ps 104:3laying the beams of His chambers in the waters above, making the clouds His chariot, walking on the wings of the wind.
- Ps 77:16–19The waters saw You, O God; the waters saw You and swirled; even the depths were shaken.
- Job 26:14Indeed, 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?”
- Ps 29:3–10The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders; the LORD is heard over many waters.
- Nah 1:3The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. His path is in the whirlwind and storm, and clouds are the dust beneath His feet.
- 1 Kgs 18:44–45On the seventh time the servant reported, “There is a cloud as small as a man’s hand rising from the sea.” And Elijah replied, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’”
- Job 38:9when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its blanket,
- Hab 3:10The mountains saw You and quaked; torrents of water swept by. The deep roared with its voice and lifted its hands on high.
- Job 38:37Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens
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 36:29 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.