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Tuesday, May 6th, 2025
the Third Week after Easter
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Read the Bible

Contemporary English Version

Job 36:31

By producing such rainstorms, God rules the world and provides us with food.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Meteorology and Celestial Phenomena;   Thompson Chain Reference - Food;   Food, Physical-Spiritual;   Victuals;   The Topic Concordance - God;   Judges;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Providence of God;   Testimony;   Holman Bible Dictionary - God;   Job, the Book of;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Elihu;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Abound;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
For he judges the nations with these;he gives food in abundance.
Hebrew Names Version
For by these he judges the people. He gives food in abundance.
King James Version
For by them judgeth he the people; he giveth meat in abundance.
English Standard Version
For by these he judges peoples; he gives food in abundance.
New Century Version
This is the way God governs the nations; this is how he gives us enough food.
New English Translation
It is by these that he judges the nations and supplies food in abundance.
Amplified Bible
"For by these [mighty acts] He judges the peoples; He gives food in abundance.
New American Standard Bible
"For by them He judges peoples; He gives food in abundance.
World English Bible
For by these he judges the people. He gives food in abundance.
Geneva Bible (1587)
For thereby hee iudgeth the people, and giueth meate abundantly.
Legacy Standard Bible
For by these He judges peoples;He gives food in abundance.
Berean Standard Bible
For by these He judges the nations and provides food in abundance.
Complete Jewish Bible
By these things he judges the people and also gives food in plenty.
Darby Translation
For with them he judgeth the peoples; he giveth food in abundance.
Easy-to-Read Version
He uses them to control the nations and to give them plenty of food.
George Lamsa Translation
For by these he judges the people; and he gives food to many.
Good News Translation
This is how he feeds the people and provides an abundance of food.
Lexham English Bible
Indeed, he judges people by them; he gives food in abundance.
Literal Translation
For He judges the people by them; He gives plenty of food.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
By these thinges gouerneth he his people, and geueth the abundaunce of meate.
American Standard Version
For by these he judgeth the peoples; He giveth food in abundance.
Bible in Basic English
For by these he gives food to the peoples, and bread in full measure.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
For by these He judgeth the peoples; He giveth food in abundance.
King James Version (1611)
For by them iudgeth he the people, he giueth meate in abundance.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
For by these gouerneth he his people, and geueth them aboundance of meate.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For by them he will judge the nations: he will give food to him that has strength.
English Revised Version
For by these he judgeth the peoples; he giveth meat in abundance.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
the herris of the see. For bi these thingis he demeth puplis, and yyueth mete to many deedli men.
Update Bible Version
For by these he judges the peoples; He gives food in abundance.
Webster's Bible Translation
For by them he judgeth the people; he giveth food in abundance.
New King James Version
For by these He judges the peoples; He gives food in abundance.
New Living Translation
By these mighty acts he nourishes the people, giving them food in abundance.
New Life Bible
For by these He judges the people and He gives much food.
New Revised Standard
For by these he governs peoples; he gives food in abundance.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For, by those things, he executeth judgment on peoples, He giveth food in abundance:
Douay-Rheims Bible
For by these he judgeth people, and giveth food to many mortals.
Revised Standard Version
For by these he judges peoples; he gives food in abundance.
Young's Literal Translation
For by them He doth judge peoples, He giveth food in abundance.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"For by these He judges peoples; He gives food in abundance.

Contextual Overview

24 Others have praised God for what he has done, so join with them. 25 From down here on earth, everyone has looked up and seen 26 how great God is— God is more than we imagine; no one can count the years he has lived. 27 God gathers moisture into the clouds 28 and supplies us with rain. 29 Who can understand how God scatters the clouds and speaks from his home in the thunderstorm? 30 And when God sends lightning, it can be seen at the bottom of the sea. 31 By producing such rainstorms, God rules the world and provides us with food. 32 Each flash of lightning is one of his arrows striking its target, 33 and the thunder tells of his anger against sin.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

by: Job 37:13, Job 38:22, Job 38:23, Genesis 6:17, Genesis 7:17-24, Genesis 19:24, Exodus 9:23-25, Deuteronomy 8:2, Deuteronomy 8:15, Joshua 10:11, 1 Samuel 2:10, 1 Samuel 7:10, 1 Samuel 12:18

he giveth: Job 38:26, Job 38:27, Psalms 65:9-13, Psalms 104:13-15, Psalms 104:27, Psalms 104:28, Psalms 136:25, Acts 14:17

Reciprocal: Genesis 1:29 - to you

Cross-References

Genesis 17:6
I will give you a lot of descendants, and in the future they will become great nations. Some of them will even be kings.
Genesis 17:16
I will bless her, and you will have a son by her. She will become the mother of nations, and some of her descendants will even be kings.
Genesis 25:23
and he told her: "Your two sons will become two separate nations. The younger of the two will be stronger, and the older son will be his servant."
Genesis 36:17
The clans that descended from Esau and Basemath's son Reuel were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.
Genesis 36:18
The clans that descended from Esau and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah were Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.
Genesis 36:20
Seir was from the Horite tribe that had lived in Edom before the time of Esau. The clans that had descended from him were Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,
Genesis 36:43
Magdiel, and Iram. These clans descended from Esau, who was known as Edom, the father of the Edomites. They took their names from the places where they settled.
Numbers 20:14
Moses sent messengers from Israel's camp near Kadesh with this message for the king of Edom: We are Israelites, your own relatives, and we're sure you have heard the terrible things that have happened to us.
Deuteronomy 33:5
Then you and your leaders made the Lord your king.
Deuteronomy 33:29
The Lord has rescued you and given you more blessings than any other nation. He protects you like a shield and is your majestic sword. Your enemies will bow in fear, and you will trample on their backs.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For by them judgeth he the people,.... That is, by the clouds; which the Lord uses both in a way of judgment, as expressed in this clause; and in a way of mercy, as in the following; by these, and what issue out of them, as rain, hail, winds, thunder, and lightning, he sometimes punishes the inhabitants of the earth, as he did the old world by a deluge of water, which came partly from the fountains of the great deep, and partly from the windows of heaven, which destroyed man and beast, and the increase of the earth, Genesis 7:11; he punished the Egyptians by a violent storm of hail, Exodus 9:23; and slew many of the Canaanites with hailstones, Joshua 10:11; Pharaoh and his host sunk like lead when he blew with his wind, Exodus 15:10; and Sodom and Gomorrah, with the cities of the plain, were destroyed with thunder and lightning, fire and brimstone, from heaven, Genesis 19:24; as the army of the Philistines were discomfited by thunder in the times of Samuel, 1 Samuel 7:10; and the captains of fifties, with their men, were consumed by lightning in the times of Elijah, 2 Kings 1:14; and as the heavens and the earth will be burnt with fire at the end of all things, Matthew 13:40 2 Peter 3:12;

he giveth meat in abundance; very plentifully, or to a multitude of creatures, both men and cattle; who have a liberal supply of food by means of the clouds and rain, which falling upon the earth make it fruitful, so that it gives bread to the eater, and seed to the sower; causes grass to grow up for the beasts of the field, and produces bread corn, oil, and wine, for the benefit of men; an emblem of the variety and plenty of spiritual food dispensed to the churches of Christ, through the ministry of the word, and by the ministers of it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For by them judgeth he the people - By means of the clouds, the rain, the dew, the tempest, and the thunderbolt. The idea seems to be, that he makes use of all these to execute his purposes on mankind. He can either make them the means of imparting blessings, or of inflicting the severest, judgments. He can cause the tornado to sweep over the earth; he can arm the forked lightning against the works of art; he can withhold rain and dew, and spread over a land the miseries of famine.

He giveth meat in abundance - That is, by the clouds, the dew, the rain. The idea is, that he can send timely showers if he chooses, and the earth will be clothed with plenty. All these things are under his control, and he can, as he pleases, make them the means of comfort to man, or of punishing him for his sins; compare Psalms 65:11-13.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 36:31. By them judgeth he the people — He makes storms, tempests, winds, hurricanes, tornadoes, thunder and lightning, drought and inundation, the instruments of his justice, to punish rebellious nations.

He giveth meat in abundance. — Though by these he punishes offenders, yet through the same, as instruments, he provides for the wants of men and animals in general. Storms, tempests, and hurricanes, agitate the lower regions of the atmosphere, disperse noxious vapours, and thus render it fit for respiration; and without these it would soon become a stagnant, putrid, and deadly mass, in which neither animals could live, nor vegetables thrive. And by dews, rains, snows, frosts, winds, cold, and heat, he fructifies the earth, and causes it to bring forth abundantly, so that every thing living is filled with plenteousness.

Some critics translate this latter clause thus: - He passeth sentence amain. I cannot see this meaning in the original words. Not one of the versions has so understood them; nor does this translation, supposing even that the Hebrew would bear it, give so fine and so elegant an idea as that of the common version. I always feel reluctant to give a sense in any case that is not supported in some of its parts by any of the ancient versions, and more especially when it is contrary to the whole of them; and still more particularly when opposed to the Arabic, which in the Book of Job, containing so many Arabisms, I consider to be of very great importance.


 
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