Bible Strands
Job 36:29
Furthermore, who can understand how the clouds spread out, how the thunder roars from His pavilion?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Elihu addresses Job within a discourse on divine power, placing this question between the description of clouds pouring rain (Job 36:28) and lightning scattering across the sea (Job 36:30). The speaker frames human comprehension as impossible regarding the mechanics of the sky.
The words — The Hebrew מִפְרְשֵׂי (mif.re.sei) literally means [the] spreading out(s) of, and סֻכָּתֽ/וֹ (su.ka.T/o) translates to pavilion/ his. These terms describe the physical formation of dark clouds and the location from which thunder crashes.
The thread — Job 37:16 repeats the question about understanding cloud movement and wonders. Job 37:2 links thunder directly to God's voice, while 1 Kings 18:44 records a cloud rising from the sea as a sign of divine action.
Why it lands — The text states that no one can fathom how clouds spread or thunder originates from God's pavilion. It demands a reader to acknowledge human limitation in comprehending natural phenomena and to accept divine sovereignty over them.
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
Also can any understand the spreadings of the clouds, or the noise of his tabernacle?
Cross-references
- Job 37:16 Do you understand how the clouds float, those wonders of Him who is perfect in knowledge?
- Job 37:2 Listen closely to the thunder of His voice and the rumbling that comes from His mouth.
- 1 Kings 18:44 On the seventh time the servant reported, “There is a cloud as small as a man’s hand rising from the sea.” And Elijah replied, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’”
- Job 26:14 Indeed, these are but the fringes of His ways; how faint is the whisper we hear of Him! Who then can understand the thunder of His power?”
- Job 38:9 when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its blanket,
- Job 38:37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens
- Psalms 18:13 The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded—hailstones and coals of fire.
- Psalms 29:3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders; the LORD is heard over many waters.
- Psalms 77:16 The waters saw You, O God; the waters saw You and swirled; even the depths were shaken.
- Psalms 104:3 laying the beams of His chambers in the waters above, making the clouds His chariot, walking on the wings of the wind.