The clouds churn about at his direction. They do whatever he commands throughout the earth.
Parallel translations
- WEB It is turned around by his guidance, that they may do whatever he commands them on the surface of the habitable world,
- KJV And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth.
- BSB They swirl about, whirling at His direction, accomplishing all that He commands over the face of all the earth.
- NKJV And they swirl about, being turned by His guidance, That they may do whatever He commands them On the face of the whole earth.
- NASB “It changes direction, turning around by His guidance, That it may do whatever He commands it On the face of the inhabited earth.
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
The clouds move and turn exactly as God directs them to fulfill his purposes across the whole inhabited earth. Nothing in creation drifts at random.
Overview
Elihu stresses that the weather is steered by God's guidance to accomplish whatever he commands over the habitable world. Even seemingly chaotic storms are obedient instruments of divine will. This providential ordering of creation anticipates God's questioning of Job about who truly governs the natural order.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 148:8lightning and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling his word;
- Joel 2:23“Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in Yahweh, your God; for he gives you the former rain in just measure, and he causes the rain to come down for you, the former rain and the latter rain, as before.
- Ps 104:24Yahweh, how many are your works! In wisdom have you made them all. The earth is full of your riches.
- Jas 5:17–18Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it didn’t rain on the earth for three years and six months.
- Rev 11:6These have the power to shut up the sky, that it may not rain during the days of their prophecy. They have power over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.
- Amos 4:7“I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city. One place was rained on, and the piece where it didn’t rain withered.
- Ps 65:9–10You 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.
- Jer 14:22Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the sky give showers? Aren’t you he, Yahweh our God? Therefore we will wait for you; for you have made all these things.
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 37:12 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.