For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength.
Parallel translations
- WEB For he says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth;’ likewise to the shower of rain, and to the showers of his mighty rain.
- BSB For He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the gentle rain, ‘Pour out a mighty downpour.’
- NKJV For He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth’; Likewise to the gentle rain and the heavy rain of His strength.
- NASB “For to the snow He says, ‘Fall on the earth,’ And to the downpour and the rain, ‘Be strong.’
- NLT “He directs the snow to fall on the earth and tells the rain to pour down.
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 commands the snow and rain to fall on the earth, including His mighty downpours. Even snow and rain obey His word.
Overview
Elihu notes that God simply speaks and the snow and rain obey, falling at His command. This underscores that all weather is governed by God's sovereign word, not by chance (Ps. 147:15-18). The verse displays the same powerful word by which God created and now sustains all things, the word made flesh in Christ who upholds the universe (Col. 1:16-17).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Job 38:22Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,
- Job 36:27For he maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to the vapour thereof:
- Ps 147:16–18He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.
- Ezek 13:13Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it.
- Ezek 13:11Say unto them which daub it with untempered morter, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.
- Gen 7:10–12And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
- Ps 148:8Fire, and hail; snow, and vapours; stormy wind fulfilling his word:
- 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.
- Ezra 10:13But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing.
- Prov 28:3A poor man that oppresseth the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food.
- Amos 9:6It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name.
- Matt 7:25–27And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
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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 37:6 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.