Bible Strands
Job 36:31
For by these He judges the nations and provides food in abundance.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Elihu speaks to Job during a discourse on thunder and lightning, using atmospheric phenomena to illustrate God's active governance. The speaker positions these natural events as the immediate context for understanding divine authority.
The words — יָדִ֣ין (ya.Din) means "he judges," and אֹ֥כֶל ('O.khel) means "food." The verse states that God uses weather events to assess nations and supply sustenance.
The thread — The connection between meteorological events and divine provision appears in Psalms 136:25, Job 37:13, and Acts 14:17. These passages consistently link rain, harvest, and lightning to God's ongoing care and moral direction.
Why it lands — The text asserts that natural cycles function as instruments of both judgment and sustenance. It requires readers to recognize physical reality as a direct expression of divine governance rather than an autonomous system.
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
For by them judgeth he the people; he giveth meat in abundance.
Cross-references
- Psalms 136:25 He gives food to every creature. His loving devotion endures forever.
- Job 37:13 Whether for punishment or for His land, He accomplishes this in His loving devotion.
- Acts 14:17 Yet He has not left Himself without testimony to His goodness: He gives you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.”
- Psalms 104:13 He waters the mountains from His chambers; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of His works.
- Job 38:26 to bring rain on a barren land, on a desert where no man lives,
- Psalms 65:9 You attend to the earth and water it; with abundance You enrich it. The streams of God are full of water, for You prepare our grain by providing for the earth.
- Psalms 104:27 All creatures look to You to give them their food in due season.
- Genesis 6:17 And behold, I will bring floodwaters upon the earth to destroy every creature under the heavens that has the breath of life. Everything on the earth will perish.
- Genesis 7:17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and the waters rose and lifted the ark high above the earth.
- Genesis 19:24 Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens.