He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy.
Parallel translations
- WEB Whether it is for correction, or for his land, or for loving kindness, that he causes it to come.
- BSB Whether for punishment or for His land, He accomplishes this in His loving devotion.
- NKJV He causes it to come, Whether for correction, Or for His land, Or for mercy.
- NASB “Whether for correction, or for His earth, Or for goodness, He causes it to happen.
- NLT He makes these things happen either to punish people or to show his unfailing love.
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 sends weather for one of three purposes: to correct, to nourish his land, or to show covenant love. The same rain can be judgment or mercy.
Overview
Elihu names the moral and gracious purposes behind God's sovereignty over nature. Storms may discipline, sustain the land, or express loving kindness, but always serve God's wise ends. This guards against Job's despair by insisting that God's dealings, even painful ones, are purposeful rather than arbitrary.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 1 Kgs 18:45And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.
- Job 38:26–27To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;
- 1 Sam 12:18–19So Samuel called unto the LORD; and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel.
- Job 36:31For by them judgeth he the people; he giveth meat in abundance.
- Exod 9:18–25Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.
- 2 Sam 21:10And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.
- Ezra 10:9Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain.
- Job 38:37–38Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven,
- Job 37:6For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength.
- 2 Sam 21:14And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was intreated for the land.
- Joel 2:23Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.
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 37:13 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.