Bible Strands
Job 37:11
He loads the clouds with moisture; He scatters His lightning through them.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Elihu addresses Job while describing God's sovereign control over atmospheric phenomena, immediately after noting how God's breath freezes watery expanses.
The words — יַטְרִיחַ (yat.Ri.ach) = he burdens or loads, and עֲנַן ('a.Nan) = cloud. These terms anchor the verse's description of divine action upon the sky.
The thread — Job 36:27 and Job 36:32 parallel this description by detailing God drawing up water and commanding lightning to strike. Isaiah 18:4 shares the theme of divine oversight but describes God's quiet observation using a dew cloud metaphor, without water collection or lightning imagery.
Why it lands — The text states that God actively loads clouds with moisture and scatters lightning through them, demonstrating direct command over weather. It asks the reader to recognize that atmospheric events follow His precise direction rather than occurring independently.
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 by watering he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his bright cloud:
Cross-references
- Job 36:27 For He draws up drops of water which distill the rain from the mist,
- Job 36:32 He fills His hands with lightning and commands it to strike its mark.
- Isaiah 18:4 For this is what the LORD has told me: “I will quietly look on from My dwelling place, like shimmering heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
- Matthew 17:5 While Peter was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”