Do you know the workings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge?
Parallel translations
- KJV Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge?
- BSB Do you understand how the clouds float, those wonders of Him who is perfect in knowledge?
- ESV Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge,
- NKJV Do you know how the clouds are balanced, Those wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge?
- NASB “Do you know about the hovering of the clouds, The wonders of One who is perfect in knowledge,
- NLT Do you understand how he moves the clouds with wonderful perfection and skill?
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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
Job is asked if he understands how the clouds are balanced by the One who is perfect in knowledge. Only God possesses such complete wisdom.
Overview
Elihu highlights the delicate poising of the clouds as a work of God's flawless knowledge. The phrase 'perfect in knowledge' marks the infinite gap between Creator and creature. It quietly rebukes Job's attempts to reason out God's justice from limited human understanding.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Job 36:4For truly my words are not false. One who is perfect in knowledge is with you.
- Isa 40:22It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in;
- Job 36:29Yes, can any understand the spreading of the clouds, and the thunderings of his pavilion?
- Jer 10:12–13He has made the earth by his power. he has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens.
- Prov 3:19–20By wisdom Yahweh founded the earth. By understanding, he established the heavens.
- Ps 104:2–3He covers himself with light as with a garment. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
- Job 26:8He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not burst under them.
- Ps 104:24Yahweh, how many are your works! In wisdom have you made them all. The earth is full of your riches.
- Ps 147:5Great is our Lord, and mighty in power. His understanding is infinite.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 37:16 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.