Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew?

World English Bible · Public Domain

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew?

  • KJV King James Version

    Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?

  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    Hath the rain a father? Or who hath begotten the drops of dew?

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Cross-references (20)

Passages linked to Job 38:28 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.

  • Jeremiah 14:22 Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the sky give showers? Aren’t you he, Yahweh our God? Therefore we will wait for you; for you have made all these things.
  • Psalms 147:8 who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass grow on the mountains.
  • Proverbs 3:20 By his knowledge, the depths were broken up, and the skies drop down the dew.
  • Jeremiah 10:13 When he utters his voice, the waters in the heavens roar, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and brings the wind out of his treasuries.
  • Genesis 27:28 God give you of the dew of the sky, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and new wine.
  • Genesis 27:39 Isaac his father answered him, “Behold, your dwelling will be of the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of the sky from above.
  • Deuteronomy 33:13 About Joseph he said, “His land is blessed by Yahweh, for the precious things of the heavens, for the dew, for the deep that couches beneath,
  • Deuteronomy 33:28 Israel dwells in safety, the fountain of Jacob alone, In a land of grain and new wine. Yes, his heavens drop down dew.
  • 1 Samuel 12:17-18 Isn’t it wheat harvest today? I will call to Yahweh, that he may send thunder and rain; and you will know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in Yahweh’s sight, in asking for a king.” So Samuel called to Yahweh; and Yahweh sent thunder and rain that day. Then all the people greatly feared Yahweh and Samuel.
  • 2 Samuel 1:21 You mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain on you, and no fields of offerings; For there the shield of the mighty was defiled and cast away, The shield of Saul was not anointed with oil.
  • 1 Kings 17:1 Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”
  • Job 5:9-10 who does great things that can’t be fathomed, marvelous things without number; who gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on the fields;
  • Job 29:19 My root is spread out to the waters. The dew lies all night on my branch.
  • Job 38:8 “Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke out of the womb,
  • Psalms 65:9-10 You visit the earth, and water it. You greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of water. You provide them grain, for so you have ordained it. You drench its furrows. You level its ridges. You soften it with showers. You bless it with a crop.
  • Jeremiah 5:24 They don’t say in their heart, ‘Let’s now fear Yahweh our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season, who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’
  • Hosea 14:5 I will be like the dew to Israel. He will blossom like the lily, and send down his roots like Lebanon.
  • Joel 2:23 “Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in Yahweh, your God; for he gives you the early rain in just measure, and he causes the rain to come down for you, the early rain and the latter rain, as before.
  • Amos 4:7 “I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city. One place was rained on, and the piece where it didn’t rain withered.
  • Matthew 5:45 that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

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Explain this verse (14 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 38:28 Hath the rain a father? or who…

Job 38:28 Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?

Ver. 28. Hath the rain a father?] Subaudi, praeter me? saith Vatablus. Hath it any father but me? Can any of the heathen deities give rain? Or can the heavens give showers? "Art not thou he, O Lord our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things," Jer 14:22.

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Or who hath begotten the drops of dew?] Those round orient pearls, that, falling from heaven in a clear night, do sweetly refresh whatsoever groweth in fields and meadows. The natural causes hereof and of rain are known, but we must rise higher to God, the first Author and Father of these and other things, before and after mentioned, who bringeth them out of his treasuries, and doth wonderfully both make and manage them. It is remarkable that Christ saith, Hos 14:5, "I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall grow as the lily," &c. {See Trapp on "Hos 14:5"} Christ is unto them as a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest, Isa 18:4 making their hearts to be as so many watered gardens, Jer 31:12.

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 wit, besides me. Is there any man upon…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain The waters are hid as with a stone,.... The…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Father - Is there any man that can beget…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 28. Hath the rain a father?] Or, Who…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Job 38:28-30. Hath the rain a father? — Is…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Hath the rain a father? - That is, it…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Can any visible origin of rain and dew be…
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain Third long strophe — MORTIFYING QUESTIONS AS TO THE…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 28. the rain a father] That is, a human…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten…
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Hath the rain a father?
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain God’s Majesty in the Wonders above the Earth
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Connecting Statement:

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