to be high actively · interrogative particle + verb, hiphil imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
voice
קוֹלֶ֑ךָko.Le.cha
H6963
a voice or sound · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
clouds
לָעָ֣בla.'Av
H5645
properly · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
abundance
וְֽשִׁפְעַתve.shif.'at-
H8229
copiousness · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct
waters
מַ֥יִםMa.yim
H4325
water · noun, common masculine plural absolute
cover
תְּכַסֶּֽךָּte.kha.Se.ka
H3680
properly · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd 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 22:11 Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.
1 Samuel 12:18 So Samuel called unto the LORD; and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel.
Job 36:27-28 For he maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to the vapour thereof:
Amos 5:8 Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that c…
Zechariah 10:1 Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one gr…
James 5:18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 38:25–end
Hitherto God had put such questions to Job as were proper to convince him of his ignorance and short-sightedness. Now he comes, in the same manner, to show his impotency and weakness. As it is but little that he knows, and therefore he ought not to arraign the divine counsels, so it is but little that he can do, and therefore he ought not to oppose the proceedings of Providence. Let him consider what great things God does, and try whether he can do the like, or whether he thinks himself an equal match for him.
I. God has thunder, and lightning, and rain, and frost, at command, but Job has not, and therefore let him not dare to compare himself with God, or to contend with him. Nothing is more…
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 קלות koloth, voices; for it is considered the voice of God: here then Job's voice, קולך kolecha, is opposed to the voice of Jehovah!
John Gill on Job 38:34
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, Zechariah 10:1; see Amos 5:8.
Keil & Delitzsch on Job 38:34-38
The Church Fathers
"Shall you call the cloud? Either in your thought or in a loud voice, saying to him, "Follow Me;" Or "Saul, Saul, why persecute me?" - And the great waters of terror will "obey them?" The mighty peoples, when they hear this voice of God: "Make your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is "God who produces in us the will and the action according to his pleasure." "
Up to this point God divides the heavenly realities in terms of those through which he punishes us, as distinguished from those through which he benefits us. Notice how the lightnings answer. They do not really mean, "What do you want?" The text wants to signify that all creatures, as though they were living creatures, bend their ear to God. Every time he wants to show the difference in their formation, God talks about "begetting" and "maternal womb." Every time, on the other hand, he wants to show their docility and perfection, he depicts them as if they bent their ear to his call. Why did he present himself not only as a craftsman but as a father as well? This is because the art that presides over nature is quite superior to any manual art, for it is, so to speak, divine.
1. Blessed Job is asked by God, Who questions him, whether he has done such things as man is surely unable to do; in order that, when he discovers that he cannot do them, he may fly for refuge to Him, Whom he understands to be the only One Who is able to do them, and that he may appear more powerful before the eyes of his Judge, if he learns more truly his own infirmities. Of that then which is well known to be wonderfully wrought by God, Job is questioned by the Divine Voice; and it is said to him; Wilt thou lift up thy voice in the cloud, and shall the force of the waters cover thee? 2. For God in truth lifts up His voice in the cloud, when He frames His exhortation to the darkened hearts of unbelievers, by the tongues of His preachers. And the force of the waters covers Him, when the crowd of opposing people oppresses His members who are acting rightly. For hence is that which is written, The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, Stand in the court of the Lord's house, speaking to all the cities of Judah, from which men come to worship in the Lords house, all the words that I have commanded thee. [Jer. 26, 1. 2.] And a little after, And the priests, and the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. And when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking, the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, took him, saying, Let him surely die, why hath he prophesied in the name of the Lord? [ib. 7-9] Behold, the Lord lifted up His voice in a cloud, because He reproved the darkened minds of the haughty by sending the Prophet against them. Behold, the face of the waters covered Him immediately; because He Himself, Who commanded the words of reproof, suffered all things in the person of Jeremiah from the people who rose against him, and were provoked by reason of their reproof. The Lord also raised up His voice in a cloud by Himself, when on exhibiting Himself before us in His assumed body, He preached many things to His persecutors, but veiled in enigmatical figures. He raised up His voice in a cloud, because He uttered His truth, as if in darkness, to unbelievers who would not follow Him. Whence also it is well written in the Books of Kings, The cloud filled the house of the Lord, and the priests were not able to minister because of the cloud. [1 Kings 8, 10. 11.] For while the proud high priests of the Jews hear…
Dictionary and topics
Clouds · Man: Cannot cause to rain — Man: Cannot cause to rain
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).
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 ך of תכסך 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…
The east wind blows off the desert to scorch crops (Gen 41:6, 23, 27; Jer 4:11; Jon 4:8) and dry up seas (Exod 14:21; Isa 11:15). It is an arid contrast to the torrents of rain that cause flooding. • Beneficial rain to satisfy the parched ground (Pss 104:10-11; 107:35; Isa 35:7; 58:11) stands in contrast to both scorching winds (Job 38:24) and flooding rains (38:25).
Rashi on Job 38:34
Can you lift up your voice to the cloud to command it to tie up with the darkness of water so that an abundance of water cover you? That is the darkening of clouds, like (above 22:11), “or darkness so that you do not see.” [or] will an abundance of water from Heaven cover you by your commands.
