Limitless Word
“God thunders wondrously with His voice, Doing great things which we do not comprehend.
Job 37:5 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB God thunders marvelously with his voice. He does great things, which we can’t comprehend.
  • KJV God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend.
  • BSB God thunders wondrously with His voice; He does great things we cannot comprehend.
  • NKJV God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend.
  • NLT God’s voice is glorious in the thunder. We can’t even imagine the greatness of his power.

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 thunders marvelously and does great things beyond our comprehension. His works exceed all human understanding.

Overview

Elihu sums up his meditation: God's voice in the storm is marvelous, and His great deeds surpass what we can grasp. This confession of God's incomprehensible greatness is the proper response to His works (Job 5:9; Ps. 145:3). It humbles human pretensions to understand all of God's ways and invites trust in the One whose wisdom is unsearchable, revealed in Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 11

  • Job 5:9who does great things that can’t be fathomed, marvelous things without number;
  • Rom 11:33Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!
  • Job 9:10He does great things past finding out; yes, marvelous things without number.
  • Eccl 3:11He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their hearts, yet so that man can’t find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end.
  • Isa 40:28Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The everlasting God, Yahweh, The Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint. He isn’t weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
  • Rev 15:3They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God, the Almighty! Righteous and true are your ways, you King of the nations.
  • Job 26:14Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways. How small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?”
  • Job 36:26Behold, God is great, and we don’t know him. The number of his years is unsearchable.
  • Job 11:7“Can you fathom the mystery of God? Or can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
  • Isa 40:21–22Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard, yet? Haven’t you been told from the beginning? Haven’t you understood from the foundations of the earth?
  • 2 Sam 22:14–15Yahweh thundered from heaven. The Most High uttered his voice.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Job 37:5YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 37:5 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.