Bible Strands
Job 36:28
which the clouds pour out and shower abundantly on mankind.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Elihu addresses Job and his companions while continuing his discourse on God's governance of nature, immediately following his description of water droplets distilling into rain (Job 36:27). He concludes this segment of his weather account before posing a rhetorical question about the mechanics of cloud formation in Job 36:29.
The words — The Hebrew sequence יִזְּלוּ שְׁחָקִים יִרְעֲפוּ עַל־אָדָם רָב (yi.ze.Lu she.cha.Kim yir.'a.Fu al-'Adam Rav) literally translates to "the clouds flow, they drip on humankind [in] abundance." These verbs describe the physical descent of moisture from the sky onto people.
The thread — The motif of clouds releasing water appears in Proverbs 3:20 where clouds drip dew through divine knowledge, Genesis 7:11 where the floodwaters break forth, and Job 37:11 where God loads clouds with moisture and scatters lightning. Each passage links atmospheric water directly to divine action rather than independent natural processes.
Why it lands — The text states that rain falls abundantly upon humanity as a direct outpouring from the clouds. It asks the reader to observe the described precipitation cycle as a sustained delivery mechanism tied to sovereign control.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Which the clouds do drop and distil upon man abundantly.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 3:20 By His knowledge the watery depths were broken open, and the clouds dripped with dew.
- Genesis 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.
- Job 37:11 He loads the clouds with moisture; He scatters His lightning through them.