God’s Word Translation
Job 36:32
32He fills his hands with lightning and orders it to hit the target.
Job 36:32 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)With clouds he covereth the light; and commandeth it not to shine by the cloud that cometh betwixt.
- New International Version (NIV)He fills his hands with lightning and commands it to strike its mark.
- English Standard Version (ESV)He covers his hands with the lightning and commands it to strike the mark.
- New King James Version (NKJV)He covers His hands with lightning, And commands it to strike.
Context of Job 36:32
30Look, he scatters his flashes of lightning around him and covers the depths of the sea. 31This is how he uses the rains to provide for people and to give them more than enough food. He fills his hands with lightning and orders it to hit the target. 33The thunder announces his coming. The storm announces his angry wrath.
Read all of Job 36Job 36:32 word by word
עַל־כַּפַּ֥יִם כִּסָּה־א֑וֹר וַיְצַ֖ו עָלֶ֣יהָ בְמַפְגִּֽיעַ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 36:32
- Job 26:9He covers his throne by spreading his cloud over it.
- Exodus 10:21Then the Lord said to Moses, “Lift your hand toward the sky, and a darkness ⌞so thick⌟ that it can be felt will come over Egypt.”
- Psalms 18:11He made the darkness his hiding place, the dark rain clouds his covering.
- Psalms 135:7He is the one who makes the clouds rise from the ends of the earth, who makes lightning for the thunderstorms, and who brings wind out of his storerooms.
- Psalms 147:8He covers the sky with clouds. He provides rain for the ground. He makes grass grow on the mountains.
- Psalms 148:8lightning and hail, snow and fog, strong winds that obey his commands,
- Acts 27:20For a number of days we couldn’t see the sun or the stars. The storm wouldn’t let up. It was so severe that we finally began to lose any hope of coming out of it alive.
Commentaries on Job 36:32
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 32With clouds he covereth the light - This is all extraordinary saying, אור כמה כפים על al cappayim kissah or, which Mr. Good translates, "He brandisheth the blaze athwart the concave." The Vulgate, with which all the other versions less or more agree, has, In manibus abscondit lucem, "In his hands he hideth the light;" or, more literally, "By the hollow of his hands (כפים cappayim ) he concealeth the light, (אור or,") the fountain of light, i.e., the Sun…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 32With clouds he covereth the light - The Hebrew here is, על־כפים ‛al -kaphiym - “upon his hands.” Jerome, “In manibus abscondit lucem,” “he hideth the light in his hands.” Septuagint, ̓̀ ͂ ̓́ ͂ Epi cheirōn ekalupse fōs - “he covereth the light in his hands.” The allusion is, undoubtedly, to the lightning, and the image is, that God takes the lightning in his hands, and directs it as he pleases. There has been great variety however, in the exposition of…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 24-33Verses 24-33 Elihu endeavours to fill Job with high thought of God, and so to persuade him into cheerful submission to his providence. Man may see God's works, and is capable of discerning his hand in them, which the beasts are not, therefore they ought to give him the glory. But while the worker of iniquity ought to tremble, the true believer should rejoice. Children should hear with pleasure their Father's voice, even when he speaks in terror to his…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 3232. Rather, "He covereth (both) His hands with light (lightning, Job 37:3, Margin), and giveth it a command against his adversary" (literally, the one "assailing" Him, Psa 8:2; 139:20; Job 21:19). Thus, as in Job 36:31, the twofold effects of His waters are set forth, so here, of His light; in the one hand, destructive lightning against the wicked; in the other, the genial light for good to His friends, &c. (Job 36:33) [Umbreit].Read the comment
Topics related to Job 36:32
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 36
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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