Bible Strands
Job 38:26
to bring rain on a barren land, on a desert where no man lives,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Job from the whirlwind, continuing His series of rhetorical questions about the foundations of creation. He lists natural phenomena to demonstrate His exclusive authority over the physical world.
The words — The verse centers on הַמְטִיר (ham.tir), literally "to send rain," and מִדְבָּר (midbar), meaning "wilderness" or "desert." These terms specify that the divine action targets uninhabited, arid territory.
The thread — Jeremiah 14:22 contrasts this sovereign rain-bringing with the impotence of idols, while Psalm 107:35 parallels the transformation of arid land into pools and springs. Hebrews 6:7 extends the imagery to agricultural productivity, noting land that drinks falling rain and yields a useful crop.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that God's providential work operates independently of human presence or observation. It requires the reader to accept divine sovereignty over barren places and to cease questioning His governance of the natural order.
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
To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 14:22 Can the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies alone send showers? Is this not by You, O LORD our God? So we put our hope in You, for You have done all these things.
- Psalms 107:35 He turns a desert into pools of water and a dry land into flowing springs.
- Hebrews 6:7 For land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is tended receives the blessing of God.
- Job 36:27 For He draws up drops of water which distill the rain from the mist,
- Psalms 104:10 He sends forth springs in the valleys; they flow between the mountains.
- Psalms 147:8 who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow on the hills.
- Isaiah 35:1 The wilderness and the dry land will be glad; the desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.
- Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
- Isaiah 41:18 I will open rivers on the barren heights, and fountains in the middle of the valleys. I will turn the desert into a pool of water, and the dry land into flowing springs.