You whose clothing is warm, when the earth is still by reason of the south wind?
Parallel Translations
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You whose clothing is warm, when the earth is still by reason of the south wind?
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How thy garments are warm, when he quieteth the earth by the south wind?
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Thou whose garments are warm, when the earth is still by reason of the south wind;
Cross-references (4)
Passages linked to Job 37:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Job 6:17 In the dry season, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.
- Job 38:31 “Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?
- Psalms 147:18 He sends out his word, and melts them. He causes his wind to blow, and the waters flow.
- Luke 12:55 When a south wind blows, you say, ‘There will be a scorching heat,’ and it happens.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Why thy clothes should keep thee warm when the…
Why thy clothes should keep thee warm when the South wind bloweth, rather than when any other wind bloweth?
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 37:17 How thy garments [are] warm, when he…
Job 37:17 How thy garments [are] warm, when he quieteth the earth by the south [wind]?
Ver. 17. How thy garments are warm, when he, &c.] Canst thou give a reason of the extreme heat that is about the summer solstice, when the warm south winds blow so gently, that they are scarce felt at all, and thy clothes heated by thy body are a burden to thee, so that thou art ready to cast them off, and, but for common honesty, thou couldst go naked? Brentius thinks, that although one of the winds only is here instanced, yet the disposing of them all is intended; wherein much of God may be seen; for it is he alone who holdeth them in his fist, hideth them in his treasures, sendeth them out as his posts, rideth upon them, as his chariot, 2Sa 22:10 Psa 104:3, checks them at his pleasure (whence they concluded Christ’s Deity, Mat 8:27), makes them pace orderly, appointing them their motion, &c., Job 28:24-27 Nos motum sentimus, modum nescimus. Joh 3:8, Thou hearest the sound of the wind, but knowest not whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth. Now if in these common matters men are so blind, how much more in the deep judgments of the Most High.
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 How and why thy garments keep thee warm; of…
How and why thy garments keep thee warm; of which as there are some natural causes, so it is certain that they are not sufficient to do it without God’s blessing, as experience shows, Hag 1:6.
The earth, i.e. the air about the earth.
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By the south wind; which though sometimes it brings tempests, Job 37:9, yet commonly it ushereth in hot weather, Luk 12:55, as the north wind brings cold, Job 37:9. Or, from the south wind, i.e. from the tempest, which was noted to come out of the south, Job 37:9. Heb. from or
by the south, i.e. by the sun’s coming into the southern parts, which makes the air quiet and warm.
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 How thy garments are warm, when he quieteth the…
How thy garments are warm, when he quieteth the earth by the south wind? One should think there is no great difficulty in accounting for this, that a man's clothes should be warm, and he so hot as not to be able to bear them, but obliged to put them off in the summer season, when only the south wind blows, which brings heat, a serene sky, and fine weather, Luk 12:55; and yet there is something in the concourse of divine Providence attending these natural causes, and his blessing with them, without which the garment of a man will not be warm, or at least not warming to him, Hag 1:6; or
"how thy garments are warm when the land is still from the south,''
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as Mr. Broughton renders the words; that is, how it is when the earth is still from the whirlwinds of the south; or when that wind does not blow which brings heat, but northerly winds in the winter time; that then a man's garments should be warm, and keep him warm.
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 Quieteth - The air about the earth. From the…
Quieteth - The air about the earth. From the south - By the sun's coming into the southern parts, which makes the air quiet and warm.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 17. How thy garments are warm] What are…
Verse 17. How thy garments are warm] What are warmth and cold? How difficult this question! Is heat incontestably a substance, and is cold none? I am afraid we are in the dark on both these subjects. The existence of caloric, as a substance, is supposed to be demonstrated. Much, satisfactorily, has been said on this subject; but is it yet beyond doubt? I fear not. But supposing this question to be set at rest, is it demonstrated that cold is only a quality, the mere absence of heat? If it be demonstrated that there is such a substance as caloric, is it equally certain that there is no such substance as frigoric? But how do our garments keep us warm? By preventing the too great dissipation of the natural heat. And why is it that certain substances, worked into clothing, keep us warmer than others? Because they are bad conductors of caloric. Some substances conduct off the caloric or natural heat from the body; others do not conduct it at all, or imperfectly; hence those keep us warmest which, being bad conductors of caloric, do not permit the natural heat to be thrown off. In these things we know but little, after endless cares, anxieties, and experiments!
But is the question yet satisfactorily answered, why the north wind brings cold, and the south wind heat? If it be so to my readers, it is not so to me; yet I know the reasons which are alleged.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain How thy garments are warm - What is the…
How thy garments are warm - What is the reason that the garments which we wear produce warmth? This, it would seem, was one of the philosophical questions which were asked at that time, and which it was difficult to explain. Perhaps it has never occurred to most persons to ask this apparently simple question, and if the inquiry were proposed to them, plain as it seems to be, they would find it as difficult to give an answer as Elihu supposed it would be for Job. Of the fact here referred to that the garments became oppressive when a sultry wind came from the south, there could be no dispute. But what was the precise difficulty in explaining the fact, is not so clear. Some suppose that Elihu asks this question sarcastically, as meaning that Job could not explain the simplest matters and the plainest facts; but there is every reason to think that the question was proposed with entire seriousness, and that it was supposed to involve real difficulty. It seems probable that the difficulty was not so much to explain why the garments should become oppressive in a burning or sultry atmosphere, as to show how the heated air itself was produced It was difficult to explain why cold came out of the north Job 37:9; how the clouds were suspended, and the lightnings caused Job 37:11, Job 37:15-16; and it was not less difficult to show what produced uncomfortable heat when the storms from the north were allayed; when the earth became quiet, and when the breezes blowed from the south. This would be a fair question for investigation, and we may readily suppose that the causes then were not fully known.
When he quieteth the earth - When the piercing blast from the north dies away, and the wind comes round to the south, producing a more gentle, but a sultry air. It was true not only that the whirlwind came from the south Job 37:9, but also that the heated burning air came also from that quarter, Luk 12:55. We know the reason to be that the equatorial regions are warmer than those at the north, and especially that in the regions where Job lived the air becomes heated by passing over extended plains of sand, but there is no reason to suppose that this was fully understood at the time referred to here.
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 Are. Hebrew, "How thy," &c. It is also beyond…
Are. Hebrew, "How thy," &c. It is also beyond thy comprehension, why thou shouldst be too hot when the south winds blows (Haydock) moderately, though tempests generally proceed from the same quarter, ver. 9. If thou art in the dark, respecting these things, which thou feelest, how canst thou pretend to fathom and condemn the counsels of God? (Calmet) --- Job was far from doing either. His friends rather undertook to explain God’s reasons for punishing thus his servants, which Job acknowledged was to him a mystery, (Haydock) till God had enlightened him, chap. xxii. 3. (Houbigant)
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 thy garments, &c.--that is, dost thou know how thy…
thy garments, &c.--that is, dost thou know how thy body grows warm, so as to affect thy garments with heat?
south wind--literally, "region of the south." "When He maketh still (and sultry) the earth (that is, the atmosphere) by (during) the south wind" (Sol 4:16).
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 17. How — אשׁר. Some of the best critics…
17. How — אשׁר. Some of the best critics link the three verses (16-18) in one continuous thought, and read Thou whose garments are warm, etc. Shall he who suffers from heat which he does not understand exalt himself to a joint makership of the vault of the skies? The Authorized Version is quite as satisfactory, with which Hitzig agrees. The oppressive, murky sultriness which immediately precedes the outburst of a heavy thunder-storm may have suggested the thought to Elihu.
When he quieteth the earth — Or, according to some, “when the earth is quiet” or sultry. The experience of Dr. Thomson (Land and Book, 2:312) furnishes a fit illustration: “The sirocco to-day is of the quiet kind.… Pale lightnings played through the air like forked tongues of burnished steel, but there was no thunder and no wind. The heat, however, became intolerable, and I escaped from the burning highway into a dark vaulted room at the lower Bethhoron.… This sensation of dry, hot clothes is only experienced during the siroccos, and on such a day, too, one understands the other effects mentioned by the prophet, (Isa_25:5,) bringing down the noise, and quieting the earth. There is no living thing abroad to make a noise.… No one has energy enough to make a noise, and the very air is too weak and languid to stir the pendant leaves of the tall poplars.” Compare Isa_18:4.
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 17. how thy garments are warm] Rather perhaps, thou…
17. how thy garments are warm] Rather perhaps, thou Whose garments are warm, when the earth is still because of the south wind. Job_37:15 referred to the storm cloud; Job_37:16-17 refer rather to the sultry summer cloud. The words express how feeble man has no part in causing these wonders, but only passively feels the effect of them. “This sensation of dry, hot clothes is only experienced during the siroccos” (Thomson, Land and the Book). In reference to the stillness of the earth under such a wind, this writer says, “There is no living thing abroad to make a noise. The birds hide in thickest shades, the fowls pant under the walls with open mouth and drooping wings, the flocks and herds take shelter in caves and under great rocks, and the labourers retire from the fields and close the windows and doors of their houses.… The very air is too weak and languid to stir the pendent leaves even of the tall poplars.”
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (17) When he quieteth the earth.—Or, When the earth…
(17) When he quieteth the earth.—Or, When the earth is still.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain How thy garments are warm, when he quieteth the…
How thy garments are warm, when he quieteth the earth by the south wind? Dost thou even know how it is that, while the breeze from the north chills thee (vers. 9, 10), the breath from the south makes thee feel thy garments too warm? If thou canst not explain a physical matter, wherein thine own comfort is concerned, how much less canst thou comprehend the workings of God in his moral universe!
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 37:17 The hot south wind caused the sweltering conditions.
37:17 The hot south wind caused the sweltering conditions.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.