Bible Strands
Job 38:28
Does the rain have a father? Who has begotten the drops of dew?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Job from the whirlwind, using the natural cycle of rain and dew to question human authority over creation.
The words — אָ֑ב ('Av) literally means "a father," and ה֝וֹלִ֗יד (ho.Lid) means "does he father" or "begets." The phrasing frames precipitation as having a biological origin rather than a mechanical process.
The thread — Jeremiah 14:22 questions whether idols bring rain or the skies send showers independently, while Psalms 147:8 and Proverbs 3:20 describe God covering the sky, preparing rain, and causing clouds to drip with dew.
Why it lands — The verse demands a reader acknowledge that natural phenomena operate beyond human categorization or control. It redirects focus from human capability to the unseen source of creation.
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
Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
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 147:8 who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow on the hills.
- Proverbs 3:20 By His knowledge the watery depths were broken open, and the clouds dripped with dew.
- Jeremiah 10:13 When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.
- Genesis 27:28 May God give to you the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth—an abundance of grain and new wine.
- Genesis 27:39 His father Isaac answered him: “Behold, your dwelling place shall be away from the richness of the land, away from the dew of heaven above.
- Deuteronomy 33:13 Concerning Joseph he said: “May his land be blessed by the LORD with the precious dew from heaven above and the deep waters that lie beneath,
- Deuteronomy 33:28 So Israel dwells securely; the fountain of Jacob lives untroubled in a land of grain and new wine, where even the heavens drip with dew.
- 1 Samuel 12:17 Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call on the LORD to send thunder and rain, so that you will know and see what a great evil you have committed in the sight of the LORD by asking for a king.”
- 2 Samuel 1:21 O mountains of Gilboa, may you have no dew or rain, no fields yielding offerings of grain. For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul, no longer anointed with oil.