Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee? – That is, canst thou command the clouds so that they shall send down abundant rain? Bouillier supposes that there is an allusion here to the incantations which were pretended to be practiced by the Magi, by which they claimed the power of producing rain at pleasure; compare Jer 14:22, Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles (the idols that they worship) that can cause rain? Art not thou he, O Lord our God? The idea is, that it is God only who can cause rain, and that the control of the clouds from which rain descends is wholly beyond the reach of man.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 34. Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds] Canst thou produce lightning and thunder, that water may be formed, and poured down upon the earth?

Thunder is called koloth, voices; for it is considered the voice of God: here then Job’s voice, kolecha, is opposed to the voice of JEHOVAH!

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds; either thundering in them, or calling to them with a loud voice, commanding them to rain?

May cover thee, i.e. thy land, when it needs and requires rain.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

34. Jer14:22; above Job 22:11,metaphorically.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?] Thy gardens, fields, and farms; canst thou, in a magisterial way, call to and demand of the clouds to let down rain in large quantities, sufficient to water them and make them fruitful? no, thou canst not: thou mayest cry and call as long as thou wilt, not a cloud will stir, nor a drop of water be let down; rain is to be had in a suppliant way, through the prayer of faith, as by Elijah, but not in a dictatorial authoritative way: the clouds and rain are only at the disposal of the Lord; ask of him, and he will give them; but they are not to be commanded, Zec 10:1; see Am 5:8.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

34 Dost thou raise thy voice to the clouds

That an overflow of waters may cover thee?

35 Dost thou send forth lightnings, and they go,

And say to thee: Here we are?

36 Who hath put wisdom in the reins,

Or who hath given understanding to the cock?

37 Who numbereth the strata of the clouds with wisdom

And the bottles of heaven, who emptieth them,

38 When the dust flows together into a mass,

And the clods cleave together?

As Job 38:25 was worded like Job 28:26, so Job 38:34 is worded like Job 22:11; the of is dageshed in both passages, as Job 36:2, Job 36:18, Hab 2:17. What Jehovah here denies to the natural power of man is possible to the power which man has by faith, as the history of Elijah shows: this, however, does not come under consideration here. In proof of divine omnipotence and human feebleness, Elihu constantly recurs to the rain and the thunder-storm with the lightning, which is at the bidding of God. Most moderns since Schultens therefore endeavour, with great violence, to make and mean meteors and celestial phenomena. Eichh. (Hirz., Hahn) compares the Arabic name for the clouds, tacha ( tachwa ), Ew. Arab. dihh , sunshine, with the former; the latter, whose root is ( ), spectare , is meant to be something that is remarkable in the heavens: an atmospheric phenomenon, a meteor (Hirz.), or a phenomenon caused by light (Ew., Hahn), so that e.g., Umbr. translates: “Who hath put wisdom in the dark clouds, and given understanding to the meteor?” But the meaning which is thus extorted from the words in favour of the connection borders closely upon absurdity. Why, then, shall , from , Arab. tych , oblinere , adipe obducere , not signify here, as in Psa 51:8, the reins (embedded in a cushion of fat), and in fact as the seat of the predictive faculty, like , Job 19:27, as the seat of the innermost longing for the future; and particularly since here, after the constellations and the influences of the stars have just been spoken of, the mention of the gift of divination is not devoid of connection; and, moreover, as a glance at the next strophe shows, the connection which has been hitherto firmly kept to is already in process of being resolved?

If signifies the reins, it is natural to interpret also psychologically, and to translate the intellect (Targ. I, Syr., Arab.), or similarly (Saad., Gecat.), as Ges., Carey, Renan, Schlottm. But there is another rendering handed down which is worthy of attention, although not once mentioned by Rosenm., Hirz., Schlottm., or Hahn, according to which signifies a cock, gallum. We read in b. Rosch ha-Schana, 26 a: ”When I came to Techm-Kn-Nishraja, R. Simeon b. Lakish relates, the bride was there called and the cock , according to which Job 38:36 is to be interpreted: = .” The Midrash interprets in the same way, Jalkut, 905, beginning: “R. Levi says: In Arabic the cock is called .” We compare with this, Wajikra rabba, c. 1: “ is Arabic; in Arabia a prophet is called ;” whence it is to be inferred that , as is assumed, describes the cock as a seer, as a prophet.

As to the formation of the word, it would certainly be without parallel (Ew., Olsh.) if the word had the tone on the penult., but Codd. and the best old editions have the Munach by the final syllable; Norzi, who has overlooked this, at least notes with the accent on the ult. as a various reading. It is a secondary noun, Ges. 86, 5, a so-called relative noun (De Sacy, Gramm. Arabe, 768): , speculator , from ( , ), speculatio , as , Jdg 13:18 (comp. Psa 139:6), miraculosus , from , a cognate form to the Chald. ( ), of similar meaning. In connection with this primary signification, speculator , it is intelligible how in Samaritan (vid., Lagarde on Proverbs, S. 62) can signify the eye; here, however, in a Hebrew poet, the cock, of which e.g., Gregory says: Speculator semper in altitudine stat, ut quidquid venturum sit longe prospiciat . That this signification speculator = gallus

(Note: No Arab. word offers itself here for comparison: tuchaj , a cock, has different consonants, and if Arab. ska in the sense of Arab. sak , fortem esse , were to be supposed, would be a synon. of , which is likewise a name of the cock.)

was generally accepted at least in the Talmudic age, the Beracha prescribed to him who hears the cock crow: “Blessed be He who giveth the cock ( ) knowledge to distinguish between day and night!” shows. In accordance with this, Targ. II translates: who has given understanding , gallo sylvestri (whereas Targ. I , cordi, scil. hominis ), to praise his Lord? and Jer.: ( quis posuit in visceribus hominis sapientiam) et quis dedit gallo intelligentiam . This traditional rendering, condemned as talmudicum commentum (Ges.), we follow rather than the ”phenomenon” of the moderns who guess at a meaning. What is questioned in Cicero, de divin . ii. 26: Quid in mentem venit Callistheni dicere, Deos gallis signum dedisse cantandi, quum id vel natura vel casus efficere potuisset , Jehovah here claims for Himself. The weather-prophet among animals appropriately appears in this astrologico-meteorological connection by the side of the reins as, according to the Semitic view, a medium of augury ( Psychol. S. 268f.). The Koran also makes the cock the watchman who wakes up the heavenly hosts to their duty; and Masius, in his Studies of Nature, has shown how high the cock is placed as being prophetically (for divination) gifted, Moreover, the worship of cocks in the idolatry of the Semites was a service rendered to the stars: the Sabians offered cocks, probably (vid., Chwolsohn, ii. 87) as the white cock of Jezides, regarded by them as a symbol of the sun ( Deutsch. Morgenlnd. Zeitschr. 1862, S. 365f.).

In Job 38:37 Jerome translates: et concentum coelorum quis dormire faciet ; , however, does not here signify harps, but bottles; and is not: to lay to rest, but to lay down = to empty, pour out, which the Kal also, like the Arab. sakaba , directly signifies. might be taken actively: when it pours, but according to 1Ki 22:35 the intransitive rendering is also possible: when the dust pours forth, i.e., flows together, , to what is poured out, i.e., not: to the fluid, but in contrast: to a molten mass, i.e., as cast metal (to be explained not according to Job 22:16, but according to Job 37:18), for the dry, sandy, dusty earth is made firm by the downfall of the rain (Arab. rusidat , firmata est terra imbre , comp. Arab. lbbd , pluviam emisit donec arena cohaereret ). , glebae, as Job 21:33, from , Arab. rjb , in the primary signification, which as it seems must be supposed: to bring together, from which the significations branch off, to thicken, become firm ( muraggab , supported), and to be seized with terror.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

. Maybe Job can legislate for the firmament by wielding the thunder, draw down and empty the cloud, or by a word give life to the lightnings, that they may fulfil his behests, Job 38:34-35.

34. Thy voice to the clouds Not a rain-drop can the human voice call from the sky, and yet abundance of rain is essential to the weal of our race.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Job 38:34 Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?

Ver. 34. Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds? ] Thy commanding voice, as Num 9:23 . Some render it, Thy thunder. Will the clouds obey thee, and rain upon thee at thy pleasure? Something thou mayest get by thy prayers, as Elias did, Jas 5:17 , and the thundering legion in the ecclesiastical history, but nothing by command or compulsion. The monarch of Mexico is a mad man to take an oath at his coronation, that it shall be what weather soever he pleaseth all the time of his reign (Lopez de Gomara).

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Job 38:34-38

Job 38:34-38

WHO HATH GIVEN UNDERSTANDING TO THE MIND?

“Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds,

That abundance of waters may cover thee?

Canst thou send forth lightnings, that they may go,

And say unto thee, Here we are?

Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts?

Or who hath given understanding to the mind?

Who can number the clouds by wisdom?

Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven,

When the dust runneth into a mass,

And the clods cleave fast together?”

The highlight here is the question regarding the mystery of the human mind. No matter how it may be viewed, there is nothing in the entire Creation that exceeds the glory and mystery of the human intelligence. How Mozart wrote a cantata at age seven, the faculty of memory, imagination, and comprehension of the most intricate and diverse matters – there’s hardly any limit to the human mind. Someone has said that a computer with the ability to do everything that the human mind is able to do would more than fill up the state of Louisiana!

One picks up the telephone and instantly recognizes a voice he has not heard in ten years! One, from memory, is able to match colors with a thousand variations. One quotes the sacred Gospel of Matthew from memory. On and on! What an unqualified marvel is the human mind! The question here is, “Who did this”? Such ability is not in men to create it; but God has freely given a mind every man.

“Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds” (Job 38:34)? The question here, “Can you make it rain”? This writer has seen the rain-dances of the Hopi Indians; and they could not make it rain any more than could Job. Also, present-day people are just as helpless as was Job.

E.M. Zerr:

Job 38:33-38. This whole paragraph is practically on the same line of thought as much of the preceding verses. It challenges man to show his control over nature.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

1Sa 12:18, Amo 5:8, Zec 10:1, Jam 5:18

Reciprocal: Job 36:27 – he Job 36:30 – he Jer 10:13 – uttereth Jer 51:16 – there is Mat 8:9 – Go

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Job 38:34-35. Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds? Either thundering in them, or calling to them with a loud voice, and commanding them to rain. That abundance of waters may cover thee? That is, may cover thy land, when it needs and requires rain. Canst thou send lightnings that they may go? At thy pleasure, and upon thy errand? and say, Here we are? Ready to do thy will, as servants to obey their master. Nothing can be more elevated and sublime than this verse. How strong the image! How simple the expression! We read of winged lightnings in the heathen poets; but where do they live, and act, and speak, and wait for orders with impatience as here? See Peters and Dodd.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments