Job 38:34

Can you command the clouds so that a flood of water covers you?

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — God addresses Job from the whirlwind, following His question about heavenly laws in Job 38:33 and preceding His inquiry about lightning in Job 38:35. The speech occurs during a divine theophany where God challenges human understanding of cosmic order.

The words — The Hebrew תָּרִים (ta.Rim, "will you lift up") and עָב (Av, "cloud") form the core of the rhetorical question. Together with קוֹלֶךָ (ko.Le.cha, "your voice") and שִׁפְעַת מַיִם (shif.'at Ma.yim, "abundance of water"), they describe a direct command over precipitation.

The thread — The text's imagery of controlled rain and covering waters recurs in Job 22:11, 1 Samuel 12:18, and Job 36:27. These passages consistently attribute atmospheric phenomena to divine action rather than human intervention.

Why it lands — The text states that humans cannot direct clouds or summon floodwaters, reserving that power for God alone. It asks the reader to acknowledge the boundary between created authority and Creator sovereignty.

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

הֲתָרִ֣יםha./ta.Rim¿/ will you lift up לָעָ֣בla./'Avto the/ cloud[s]קוֹלֶ֑ךָko.Le./chavoice/ your וְֽשִׁפְעַת־ve./shif.'at-and/ an abundance of מַ֥יִםMa.yimwater תְּכַסֶּֽךָּ׃te.kha.Se./kawill you cover?/ yourself

King James Version

Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?

Cross-references

Job 22:11 it is so dark you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.
1 Samuel 12:18 So Samuel called to the LORD, and on that day the LORD sent thunder and rain. As a result, all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel.
Job 36:27 For He draws up drops of water which distill the rain from the mist,
Amos 5:8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth—the LORD is His name—
Zechariah 10:1 Ask the LORD for rain in springtime; the LORD makes the storm clouds, and He will give everyone showers of rain and crops in the field.
James 5:18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth yielded its crops.