¹At this also my heart pounds

and leaps from its place.

²Listen carefully to the thunder of his voice,[#tn The imperative is followed by the infinitive absolute from the same root to express the intensity of the verb.]

to the rumbling that proceeds from his mouth.

³Under the whole heaven he lets it go,

even his lightning to the far corners of the earth.

⁴After that a voice roars;

he thunders with an exalted voice,

and he does not hold back his lightning bolts

when his voice is heard.

⁵God thunders with his voice in marvelous ways;[#tn The form is the Niphal participle, “wonders,” from the verb פָּלָא (pala’, “to be wonderful; to be extraordinary”). Some commentators suppress the repeated verb “thunders,” and supply other verbs like “shows” or “works,” enabling them to make “wonders” the object of the verb rather than leaving it in an adverbial role. But as H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 236) notes, no change is needed, for one is not surprised to find repetition in Elihu’s words.]

he does great things beyond our understanding.

⁶For to the snow he says, ‘Fall to earth,’[#tn The verb actually means “be” (found here in the Aramaic form). The verb “to be” can mean “to happen, to fall, to come about.”]

and to the torrential rains, ‘Pour down.’

⁷He causes everyone to stop working,[#tn Heb “by the hand of every man he seals.” This line is intended to mean with the heavy rains God suspends all agricultural activity.]

so that all people may know his work.

⁸The wild animals go to their lairs,

and in their dens they remain.

⁹A tempest blows out from its chamber,

icy cold from the driving winds.

¹⁰The breath of God produces ice,

and the breadth of the waters freeze solid.

¹¹He loads the clouds with moisture;[#tn The word “moisture” is drawn from רִי (ri) as a contraction for רְוִי (rÿvi). Others emended the text to get “hail” (NAB) or “lightning,” or even “the Creator.” For these, see the various commentaries. There is no reason to change the reading of the MT when it makes perfectly good sense.]

he scatters his lightning through the clouds.

¹²The clouds go round in circles,[#tn The words “the clouds” are supplied from v. 11; the sentence itself actually starts: “and it goes round,” referring to the cloud.]

wheeling about according to his plans,

to carry out all that he commands them

over the face of the whole inhabited world.

¹³Whether it is for punishment for his land,[#tn Heb “rod,” i.e., a rod used for punishment.]

or whether it is for mercy,

he causes it to find its mark.

¹⁴“Pay attention to this, Job!

Stand still and consider the wonders God works.

¹⁵Do you know how God commands them,[#tn The verb is בְּשׂוּם (bÿsum, from שִׂים [sim, “set”]), so the idea is how God lays [or sets] [a command] for them. The suffix is proleptic, to be clarified in the second colon.]

how he makes lightning flash in his storm cloud?

¹⁶Do you know about the balancing of the clouds,[#tn As indicated by HALOT 618 s.v. מִפְלָשׂ, the concept of “balancing” probably refers to “floating” or “suspension” (cf. NIV’s “how the clouds hang poised” and J. E. Hartley, Job [NICOT], 481-82, n. 2).]

that wondrous activity of him who is perfect in knowledge?

¹⁷You, whose garments are hot

when the earth is still because of the south wind,

¹⁸will you, with him, spread out the clouds,[#tn The verb means “to beat out; to flatten,” and the analogy in the next line will use molten metal. From this verb is derived the word for the “firmament” in Gen 1:6-8, that canopy-like pressure area separating water above and water below.]

solid as a mirror of molten metal?

¹⁹Tell us what we should say to him.[#tn The imperfect verb here carries the obligatory nuance, “what we should say?”]

We cannot prepare a case

because of the darkness.

²⁰Should he be informed that I want to speak?[#tn This imperfect works well as a desiderative imperfect.]

If a man speaks, surely he would be swallowed up!

²¹But now, the sun cannot be looked at –[#tn The light here must refer to the sun in the skies that had been veiled by the storm. Then, when the winds blew the clouds away, it could not be looked at because it was so dazzling. Elihu’s analogy will be that God is the same – in his glory one cannot look at him or challenge him.; #tn The verb has an indefinite subject, and so should be a passive here.]

it is bright in the skies –

after a wind passed and swept the clouds away.

²²From the north he comes in golden splendor;[#tn The MT has “out of the north comes gold.” Left in that sense the line seems irrelevant. The translation “golden splendor” (with RV, RSV, NRSV, NIV) depends upon the context of theophany. Others suggest “golden rays” (Dhorme), the aurora borealis (Graetz, Gray), or some mythological allusion (Pope), such as Baal’s palace. Golden rays or splendor is what is intended, although the reference is not to a natural phenomenon – it is something that would suggest the glory of God.]

around God is awesome majesty.

²³As for the Almighty, we cannot attain to him![#tn The name “Almighty” is here a casus pendens, isolating the name at the front of the sentence and resuming it with a pronoun.]

He is great in power,

but justice and abundant righteousness he does not oppress.

²⁴Therefore people fear him,

for he does not regard all the wise in heart.”