Can you make lightning appear and cause it to strike as you direct?
Parallel translations
- WEB Can you send out lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are?’
- KJV Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?
- BSB Can you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
- NKJV Can you send out lightnings, that they may go, And say to you, ‘Here we are!’?
- NASB “Can you send flashes of lightning, so that they may go And say to you, ‘Here we are’?
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
Can Job dispatch lightning bolts so they report back to him for orders? Only God directs the lightning.
Overview
The LORD pictures lightning as a servant awaiting commands, asking if it answers to Job. No human can send or steer it. The vivid image again magnifies God's effortless rule over forces that humans can only fear and wonder at.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Job 37:3He sends it out under the whole sky, and his lightning to the ends of the earth.
- Job 36:32He covers his hands with the lightning, and commands it to strike the mark.
- Isa 65:1“I am inquired of by those who didn’t ask. I am found by those who didn’t seek me. I said, ‘See me, see me,’ to a nation that was not called by my name.
- Num 11:1The people were complaining in the ears of Yahweh. When Yahweh heard it, his anger burned; and Yahweh’s fire burned among them, and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.
- Exod 9:29Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands to Yahweh. The thunders shall cease, and there will not be any more hail; that you may know that the earth is Yahweh’s.
- Num 16:35Fire came out from Yahweh, and devoured the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense.
- Lev 10:2Fire came out from before Yahweh, and devoured them, and they died before Yahweh.
- Exod 9:23–25Moses stretched out his rod toward the heavens, and Yahweh sent thunder, hail, and lightning flashed down to the earth. Yahweh rained hail on the land of Egypt.
- 2 Kgs 1:14Behold, fire came down from the sky, and consumed the last two captains of fifty with their fifties. But now let my life be precious in your sight.”
- 1 Sam 22:12Saul said, “Hear now, you son of Ahitub.” He answered, “Here I am, my lord.”
- Rev 11:5–6If anyone desires to harm them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies. If anyone desires to harm them, he must be killed in this way.
- Isa 6:8I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
- 2 Kgs 1:10Elijah answered to the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from the sky, and consume you and your fifty!” Then fire came down from the sky, and consumed him and his fifty.
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 38:35 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.