By these mighty acts he nourishes the people, giving them food in abundance.
Parallel translations
- WEB For by these he judges the people. He gives food in abundance.
- KJV For by them judgeth he the people; he giveth meat in abundance.
- BSB For by these He judges the nations and provides food in abundance.
- NKJV For by these He judges the peoples; He gives food in abundance.
- NASB “For by them He judges peoples; He gives food in abundance.
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
By these works God both judges the peoples and gives food in abundance. The same power that judges also generously provides.
Overview
Elihu observes that God uses the forces of nature both to execute judgment and to supply abundant food. Storms and rain can chastise or bless, showing that God's governance serves both justice and mercy. This dual purpose reflects God's character, who is both the righteous Judge and the bountiful Provider, supremely seen in Christ who bore judgment to give us the bread of life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Ps 136:25Who gives food to every creature; for his loving kindness endures forever.
- Acts 14:17Yet he didn’t leave himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you rains from the sky and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”
- Job 37:13Whether it is for correction, or for his land, or for loving kindness, that he causes it to come.
- Ps 104:13–15He waters the mountains from his rooms. The earth is filled with the fruit of your works.
- Ps 65:9–13You visit the earth, and water it. You greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of water. You provide them grain, for so you have ordained it.
- Ps 104:27–28These all wait for you, that you may give them their food in due season.
- Job 38:26–27To cause it to rain on a land where no man is; on the wilderness, in which there is no man;
- Exod 9:23–25Moses stretched out his rod toward the heavens, and Yahweh sent thunder, hail, and lightning flashed down to the earth. Yahweh rained hail on the land of Egypt.
- 1 Sam 12:18So Samuel called to Yahweh; and Yahweh sent thunder and rain that day. Then all the people greatly feared Yahweh and Samuel.
- 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.”
- Deut 8:15who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with venomous snakes and scorpions, and thirsty ground where there was no water; who poured water for you out of the rock of flint;
- Josh 10:11As they fled from before Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth Horon, Yahweh hurled down great stones from the sky on them to Azekah, and they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the children of Israel killed with the sword.
- 1 Sam 7:10As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines came near to battle against Israel; but Yahweh thundered with a great thunder on that day on the Philistines, and confused them; and they were struck down before Israel.
- Job 38:22–23Have you entered the treasuries of the snow, or have you seen the treasures of the hail,
- Gen 7:17–24The flood was forty days on the earth. The waters increased, and lifted up the ship, and it was lifted up above the earth.
- Gen 6:17I, even I, do bring the flood of waters on this earth, to destroy all flesh having the breath of life from under the sky. Everything that is in the earth will die.
- Deut 8:2You shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not.
- Gen 19:24Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of the sky.
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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 36:31 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
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