Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens
Parallel translations
- WEB Who can count the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of the sky,
- KJV Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven,
- NKJV Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven,
- NASB “Who can count the clouds by wisdom, And pour out the water jars of the heavens,
- NLT Who is wise enough to count all the clouds? Who can tilt the water jars of heaven
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
Who can number the clouds by wisdom or tip over the water-jars of heaven? Only God measures and releases the rain.
Overview
God asks who has the wisdom to count the clouds and pour out the sky's waters. Job possesses no such knowledge or power. The poetic image of heavenly water-jars affirms God's intimate management of the weather.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Ps 147:4He determines the number of the stars; He calls them each by name.
- Gen 8:1But God remembered Noah and all the animals and livestock that were with him in the ark. And God sent a wind over the earth, and the waters began to subside.
- Gen 15:5And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”
- Gen 9:15I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 38:37 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.