He establishes the force of the wind. Yes, he measures out the waters by measure.
Parallel Translations
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He establishes the force of the wind. Yes, he measures out the waters by measure.
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To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure.
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When He maketh a weight for the wind, and meteth out the waters by measure.
Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to Job 28:25 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 135:7 He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings with the rain. He brings the wind out of his treasuries.
- Isaiah 40:12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
- Job 12:15 Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up. Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 28:25 To make the weight for the winds;…
Job 28:25 To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure.
Ver. 25. To make the weight for the winds] He ordereth wind and water, rain and thunder, Pondere, mensura, numero, tacit omnia, - therefore wisdom is with him. The winds he weigheth in a balance; then when they seem to blow where they list, piercing through the air with their violent blasts, God sets them their bounds, and appoints them their proportion. He sends them out as his posts, and makes them pace orderly.
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And he weigheth the waters by measure] Both the rain (not a drop falls in vain in a wrong place, or at random, but by a divine decree, as a witness of his wisdom and goodness, Act 17:14) and the sea and rivers; neither do the winds blow nor the waters flow without the Lord, who is the great moderator, who measureth the waters in the hollow of his hand, &c., Isa 40:12.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain To make the weight for the winds; which of…
To make the weight for the winds; which of themselves are most light, and without any weight, and inconstant, and such as no creature can order or govern them: but God manageth them all by weight, appointing to every wind that blows its season, its proportion, its bounds and limits, when, and where, and how much, and how long each wind shall blow, and for what ends; whether for mercy, as to refresh men in hot seasons with its gentle gales, to cherish the fruits of the earth, to waft ships on the sea to their desired havens, &c.; or whether for judgment, as to corrupt the air, and thereby the bodies of men, and fruits of the earth, to blow down houses upon their inhabitants, as he was pleased to deal with my poor unhappy children. He only doth all these things, and he only knows why he doth them. He instanceth but in some few of God’s works, and those which seem to be most trivial, and casual, and uncertain, that thereby he might more strongly imply and prove that God doth the same in other things which are more considerable, and are managed by more constant causes and certain methods; that he doth all things in the most exact order, and weight, and measure.
He weigheth: but it seems a very improper speech, to weigh things by measure; and therefore this word may more fitly be otherwise rendered, he examineth, or disposeth, or fitteth, or directeth, for so this verb is elsewhere used, as 1Sa 2:3; Psa 75:3; Pro 16:2; 21:2.
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The waters, to wit, the rain waters, as appears from the next verse, which God layeth up in his store-houses, or bottles, the clouds, and thence draws them forth, and sends them down upon the earth in such times and proportions as he thinks fit, and as may serve his several designs and ends.
By measure; for liquid things are examined by measure, as other things are by weight; and here is both weight and measure, to signify with what exact and perfect wisdom God doth govern the world.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain When he made a decree for the rain, and…
When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder. Decreed within himself that he would give it; for rain is his gift alone, and which none of the vanities of the Gentiles can give, and a wonderful blessing to the earth it is; and which God bestows on all sorts of men, both good and bad, and causes it to fall sometimes on one place and sometimes on another, sometimes in greater, sometimes in lesser showers; and according to his sovereign pleasure he gives or withholds it; the effects of which are quickly seen. Mr. Broughton renders the clause, "he made a bound for the rain, and a way for the lightning of thunder", or "the lightning and the thunder", as Ben Gersom, who thinks the copulative "and", is wanting. Thunder is from God, it is his voice, and the word here used is in the plural number, "voices" (m), signifying various claps of thunder; and lightning generally accompanies it, which, though first perceived, they are both at once the eye doing its office quicker than the ear; and a cloud also is usual; and so some render the word for lightning, as in Zac 10:1; it may signify the way of the lightning out of the thunder cloud, and attending claps of thunder; the thunder breaks the cloud and makes a path for the lightning: the Targum is,
"a path for the lightnings, which run with the voices or thunders;''
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but, though the course or path the lightning steers is very quick and very extensive from east to west, and cannot be traced by us. God that made it knows it, and he knows the path and place of wisdom. Sephorno interprets this of the thunder and lightnings at the giving of the law, which he understands by wisdom, as do other Jewish writers: Pliny (n) speaks of thunder and lightning as chance matters; but Seneca (o) more truly ascribes them to divine power and Providence, as here.
(m) "vocum", Piscator, Mercerus, Drusius. (n) Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 43. (o) Nat. Quaest. l. 2. c. 13. 31.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Winds - God manageth them all by weight, appointing…
Winds - God manageth them all by weight, appointing to every wind that blows, its season, its proportion, its bounds, when, and where, and how much, and how long each shall blow. He only doth all these things, and he only knows why he doth them. He instanceth in some few of God's works, and those which seem to be most trivial, and uncertain, that thereby he might more strongly imply that God doth the same in other things which are more considerable, that he doth all things in the most exact order, and weight, and measure. The waters - Namely, the rain-waters, which God layeth up in his store-houses, the clouds, and thence draws them forth, and sends them down upon the earth in such times and proportions as he thinks fit. Measure - For liquid things are examined by measure, as other things are by weight: and here is both weight and measure to signify with what perfect wisdom God governs the world.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 25. To make the weight for the winds]…
Verse 25. To make the weight for the winds] God has given an atmosphere to the earth, which, possessing a certain degree of gravity perfectly suited to the necessities of all animals, plants, vegetables, and fluids, is the cause in his hand of preserving animal and vegetative life through the creation; for by it the blood circulates in the veins of animals, and the juices in the tubes of vegetables. Without this pressure of the atmosphere, there could be no respiration; and the elasticity of the particles of air included in animal and vegetable bodies, without this superincumbent pressure, would rupture the vessels in which they are contained, and destroy both kinds of life. So exactly is this weight of the winds or atmospheric air proportioned to the necessities of the globe, that we find it in the mean neither too light to prevent the undue expansion of animal and vegetable tubes, nor too heavy to compress them so as to prevent due circulation. See at the end of the chapter. See Clarke on Job 28:28.
And he weigheth the waters by measure.] He has exactly proportioned the aqueous surface of the earth to the terrene parts, so that there shall be an adequate surface to produce, by evaporation, moisture sufficient to be treasured up in the atmosphere for the irrigation of the earth, so that it may produce grass for cattle, and corn for the service of man. It has been found, by a pretty exact calculation, that the aqueous surface of the globe is to the terrene parts as three to one; or, that three-fourths of the surface of the globe is water, and about one-fourth earth. And other experiments on evaporation, or the quantity of vapours which arise from a given space in a given time, show that it requires such a proportion of aqueous surface to afford moisture sufficient for the other proportion of dry land. Thus God has given the waters by measure, as he has given the due proportion of weight to the winds.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Job 28:25. To make the weight for the winds…
Job 28:25. To make the weight for the winds — His wisdom it is which sets things in such exact order, and gives them such just measures, that the wind cannot blow but in those proportions which he hath prescribed. He appoints to every wind that blows its season, its degree, its bounds, when, and where, and how much, and how long, each shall blow. He only knows why he doth these things. He instanceth in some few of God’s works, and those which seem to be most trivial and uncertain, that thereby he might more strongly imply that God doth the same in other things which are more considerable, and that he doth all things in the most exact order, and weight, and measure. And he weigheth the waters — Namely, the rain- waters, which God layeth up in his storehouses, the clouds, and thence draws them forth, and sends them down upon the earth, in such times and proportions as he thinks fit. By measure — For liquid things are examined by measure, as other things are by weight: and here are both weight and measure, to signify with what perfect wisdom God governs the world.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain To make the weight for the winds - That…
To make the weight for the winds - That is, to weigh the winds and to measure the waters - things that it would seem most difficult to do. The idea here seems to be, that God had made all things by measure and by rule. Even the winds - so fleeting and imponderable - he had adjusted and balanced in the most exact manner, as if he had “weighed” them when he made them. The air has “weight,” but it is not probable that this fact was known in the time of Job, or that he adverted to it here. It is rather the idea suggested above, that the God who had formed everything by exact rule. and who had power to govern the winds in the most exact manner, must be qualified to impart wisdom.
And he weigheth the waters - Compare the notes at Isa 40:12. The word rendered “weigheth” in this place (תכן tâkan) means either to “weigh,” or to “measure,” Isa 40:12. As the “measure” here is mentioned, it rather means probably to adjust, to apportion, than to weigh. The waters are dealt out by measure; the winds are weighed. The sense is, that though the waters of the ocean are so vast, yet God has adjusted them all with infinite skill, as if he had dealt them out by measure; and having done this, he is qualified to explain to man the reason of his doings.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Measure. He regulates the winds, and know the drops…
Measure. He regulates the winds, and know the drops of water, (Haydock) which to man is impossible, Proverbs xvi. 2.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain God has adjusted the weight of the winds, so…
God has adjusted the weight of the winds, so seemingly imponderable, lest, if too weighty, or too light, injury should be caused. He measureth out the waters, fixing their bounds, with wisdom as His counsellor (Pro 8:27-31; Isa 40:12).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 25. The weight for the winds — In the…
25. The weight for the winds — In the four representative instances which Job adduces out of the great storehouse of like wonder-workings, wisdom is no more manifested in the adjustment of the weight of the wind, or in the distribution of immense masses of water by measure, or in the opening up of a path for the lightning of the thunders, than in the rounding of the small waterdrops that fall gently to the earth vivifying its widespread fields. It is thought wonderful that Aristotle (B.C. 384) should have known of the weight and elasticity of the air. The weight of a column of air is equal to a column of mercury thirty inches high — a fact illustrated by the barometer.
Weigheth the waters by measure — The magnitude of the ocean is one of the conditions to which the structure of all organized beings which are dependent upon climate must be adapted. (WHEWELL, Bridg. Treat., Bohn’s edit., p. 45.)
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 25. to make the weight for the winds] Or,…
25. to make the weight for the winds] Or, making (when he made), appointing the winds their greater or less force. The idea is of course that God weighed the winds themselves, i. e. defined their bulk exactly, not that, in modern language, he gave to each its weight or pressure, though the sense is little different.
and he weigheth the waters by measure] Or, and he meted out the waters by measure. The “waters” are the rains, Job_28:26. The “winds” and “waters” are examples, taken to represent all, of the agencies and forces of creation. These were and continue all weighed and measured, adjusted and directed by God. The second half of the verse explains the first. In the first half it is not God’s abstract omniscience that is referred to, but His universal oversight as Creator; and the sense of the whole verse, which supports the assertion that God has Wisdom (Job_28:23), is not that God must be in possession of Wisdom in order to be Creator, which without Wisdom He could not be, but rather that His being Creator enables us to understand how Wisdom is or comes to be in His possession.
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Wisdom in this passage, as in other parts of Scripture where it is spoken of, is properly the idea or conception lying behind or under the fixed order of the universe, the world-plan. This fixed order itself with all its phenomena and occurrences is nothing but God fulfilling Himself in many ways, but these ways may be reduced to one conception, and this is Wisdom, which is thus conceived as a thing having an objective existence of its own. Naturally such an objective thing is apt to be personified and may be “seen,” “established,” “searched out” and the like. In the same way the question may be put, Where is Wisdom to be found? and the answer given that it can be found nowhere. This question and answer merely mean that man cannot attain to intellectual apprehension of the idea of the universe, nor understand the principle underlying the phenomena and events of the world and human life.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain To make the weight for the winds. God by…
To make the weight for the winds. God by his wisdom gives to winds their exactly fitting degree of force and violence, so that they perform the work in the world which they were intended to perform, and which would not be performed, were they either of a less or of a greater intensity. And he weigheth the waters by measure. (comp. Isa_40:12, "Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Everything in creation is duly proportioned to every other thing. All is ordered "by weight and with care."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.