“Behold, He spreads His lightning about Him, And He covers the depths of the sea.
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, he spreads his light around him. He covers the bottom of the sea.
- KJV Behold, he spreadeth his light upon it, and covereth the bottom of the sea.
- BSB See how He scatters His lightning around Him and covers the depths of the sea.
- NKJV Look, He scatters His light upon it, And covers the depths of the sea.
- NLT See how he spreads the lightning around him and how it lights up the depths of the sea.
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 spreads His lightning around Him and covers the depths of the sea. His power reaches from the heights to the ocean depths.
Overview
Elihu describes God flashing His light across the sky while also governing the depths of the sea. The imagery conveys that no realm, however high or deep, lies outside God's command (cf. Ps. 135:6-7). This sweeping sovereignty over all creation magnifies the One who later stilled the storm and ruled the sea in the person of Christ (Mark 4:39-41).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 104:5–9He laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be moved forever.
- Job 38:8–11“Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke out of the womb,
- Job 38:34–35“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That abundance of waters may cover you?
- Gen 1:9God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.
- Exod 14:28The waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even all Pharaoh’s army that went in after them into the sea. There remained not so much as one of them.
- Exod 14:22The children of Israel went into the middle of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand, and on their left.
- Job 38:25Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm;
- Ps 18:11–16He made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion around him, darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
- Exod 15:4–5He has cast Pharaoh’s chariots and his army into the sea. His chosen captains are sunk in the Red Sea.
- Luke 17:24for as the lightning, when it flashes out of the one part under the sky, shines to the other part under the sky; so will the Son of Man be in his day.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 36:30 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.