“For to the snow He says, ‘Fall on the earth,’ And to the downpour and the rain, ‘Be strong.’
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.
- KJV For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength.
- 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.
- 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 38:22Have you entered the treasuries of the snow, or have you seen the treasures of the hail,
- Job 36:27For he draws up the drops of water, which distill in rain from his vapor,
- Ps 147:16–18He gives snow like wool, and scatters frost like ashes.
- Ezek 13:13“‘Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “I will even tear it with a stormy wind in my wrath. There shall be an overflowing shower in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to consume it.
- Ezek 13:11Tell those who plaster it with whitewash that it will fall. There will be an overflowing shower; and you, great hailstones, will fall. A stormy wind will tear it.
- Gen 7:10–12After the seven days, the floodwaters came on the earth.
- Ps 148:8lightning and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling his word;
- Ezra 10:9Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together to Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the wide place in front of God’s house, trembling because of this matter, and because of 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 outside. This is not a work of one day or two, for we have greatly transgressed in this matter.
- Prov 28:3A needy man who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain which leaves no crops.
- Amos 9:6It is he who builds his rooms in the heavens, and has founded his vault on the earth; he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth; Yahweh is his name.
- Matt 7:25–27The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it didn’t fall, for it was founded on the 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.