to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
snow
לַשֶּׁ֨לַגla.She.lag
H7950
snow (probably from its whiteness) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
thou
הֱוֵ֫אhe.Ve'
H1933
to be (in the sense of existence) · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
earth
אָ֥רֶץ'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · noun, common feminine singular absolute
small
מָטָ֑רma.Tar
H4306
rain · noun, common masculine singular absolute
rain
וְגֶ֥שֶׁםve.Ge.shem
H1653
a shower · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct
great
מִטְר֥וֹתmit.Rot
H4306
rain · noun, common feminine plural construct
rain
וְ֝גֶ֗שֶׁםve.Ge.shem
H1653
a shower · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct
strength
עֻזּֽוֹu.Zo
H5797
strength in various applications (force · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Job 36:27 For he maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to the vapour thereof:
Job 38:22 Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,
Psalms 147:16-18 He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.
Ezekiel 13:13 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger…
Genesis 7:10-12 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
Ezra 10:9 Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentie…
Ezra 10:13 But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two: for…
Psalms 148:8 Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 37:6-13
The changes and extremities of the weather, wet or dry, hot or cold, are the subject of a great deal of our common talk and observation; but how seldom do we think and speak of these things, as Elihu does here, with an awful regard to God the director of them, who shows his power and serves the purposes of his providence by them! We must take notice of the glory of God, not only in the thunder and lightning, but in the more common revolutions of the weather, which are not so terrible and which make less noise. As,
I. In the snow and rain, Job 37:6. Thunder and lightning happen usually in the summer, but here he takes notice of the winter-weather. Then he saith to the snow, Be thou on the ear…
Be--more forcible than "fall," as UMBREIT translates Gen 1:3.
to the small rain, &c.--He saith, Be on the earth. The shower increasing from "small" to "great," is expressed by the plural "showers" (Margin), following the singular "shower." Winter rain (Sol 2:11).
Adam Clarke on Job 37:6
For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth - Snow is generally defined, "A well-known meteor, formed by the freezing of the vapours in the atmosphere." We may consider the formation of snow thus: - A cloud of vapours being condensed into drops, these drops, becoming too heavy to be suspended in the atmosphere, descend; and, meeting with a cold region of the air, they are frozen, each drop shooting into several points. These still continuing their descent, and meeting with some intermitting gales of a warmer air, are a little thawed, blunted, and again, by falling into colder air, frozen into clusters, or so entangled with each other as to fall down in what we call flakes.
Snow differs fr…
For he saith to the snow, be thou on the earth,.... In the original it is, be thou earth: hence one of the Rabbins formed a notion, that the earth was created from snow under the throne of glory, which is justly censured by Maimonides (f); for there is a defect of the letter as in 2 Chronicles 34:30; as Aben Ezra observes; and therefore rightly supplied by us, on the earth. This is one of the great and incomprehensible things of God. What is the cause of it, how it is generated, what gives it its exceeding whiteness and its form, we rather guess at than certainly know; and there are some things relative to it not easy to be accounted for: as that it should be generated in the lower region o…
The Church Fathers
"He said to the cloud, Go down to the earth. He has said it to his flesh, which we must receive in the Sacrament, in memory of Him, 1 to imitate his humility, and to establish in us his charity. "Heavy rains, and storms excited by its power. The cloud is indeed on the earth; but it is not for us, it is his omnipotence to bring out the dew and the rain of the word, which will give our hearts the intelligence of mysteries.
Who ordereth the snow to descend on the earth, and the rains of the winter, and the showers of His strength. Because the Psalmist says, Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow; [Ps. 51, 7] what do we understand by snow in this place, but the hearts of the Saints made white by the light of righteousness? But waters are taken up, and congealed above, in order to become snow. But when this snow descends to the earth, it is changed again into liquid waters. Waters therefore are the minds of preachers; which are confirmed in a higher sense of things, when they raise themselves to contemplate heavenly objects. And when they are hurried along in the consideration of lofty things, they receive the strength of confirmation. But because they are still retained on earth by love of the brethren, they bring themselves down from their lofty understanding, and preaching humbly to the weak, they melt like snow, and water their thirsty hearts. Snow then descends to the earth, when the lofty hearts of the Saints, which already feast on solid contemplation, condescend to humble words of preaching through love of the brethren. For as snow covers the ground, when it lies on it, but waters it, when it melts; so the virtue of the Saints protects the life of sinners by its strength with God, and by its condescension melts, as it were, and waters the thirsty earth, to bear fruits. And because water is first brought up from below, that it may afterwards be returned in showers from above; so do holy men, when placed on the lofty eminence of their virtues, consider from whence they are elevated, for fear of despising the meanness of others' infirmity. Waters, then, return, as it were, to the earth from which they have been raised, when righteous men, condescending to sinners, cease not to remember what once they were. Paul had certainly been hitherto but water on the earth, when he knew the Law carnally. But when raised up to heavenly knowledge, he was converted into snow; because he changed his former feeble knowledge into the solidity of true wisdom; and yet, condescending to his brethren, he returned as snow to the earth. For even after his heights of virtue, he acknowledges how unworthy he was, saying, Who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor, &c. [1 Tim. 1, 13] Behold how considerately he calls to mind his own weakness, so as to bear with equanimity the weaknesses…
Dictionary and topics
Rain · Sent by God — Sent by God
Religion · NATURAL — NATURAL
Snow · In Uz — In Uz
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
6 For He saith to the snow: Fall towards the earth,
And to the rain-shower
And the showers of His mighty rain.
7 He putteth a seal on the hand of every man,
That all men may come to a knowledge of His creative work.
8 The wild beast creepeth into a hiding-place,
And in its resting-place it remaineth.
9 Out of the remote part cometh the whirlwind,
And cold from the cloud-sweepers.
10 From the breath of God cometh ice,
And the breadth of the waters is straitened.
Like אבי, Job 34:36, and פּשׁ, Job 35:15, הוא, Job 37:6 (is falsely translated "be earthwards" by lxx, Targ., and Syr.), also belongs to the most striking Arabisms of the Elihu section: it signifies delabere (Jer. ut descendat), a sig…
The Old Testament often associates thunder with God’s voice (36:29, 33; 37:5; 38:1; Exod 19:16-19; Ps 104:7).
Rashi on Job 37:6
For He says to the snow through these voices.
‘Be upon the earth’; likewise to the shower of rain and to the showers of His mighty rain That is to say that it comes from the four directions.
