Ayub 36:26-28

The Work and Wisdom of God

36:26 “Yes, God is great – beyond our knowledge! ¹ 

The number of his years is unsearchable.

36:27 He draws up drops of water;

they distill ²  the rain into its mist, ³ 

36:28 which the clouds pour down

and shower on humankind abundantly.

[36:26]  ¹ tn The last part has the verbal construction, “and we do not know.” This clause is to be used adverbially: “beyond our understanding.”

[36:27]  ² tn The verb means “to filter; to refine,” and so a plural subject with the drops of water as the subject will not work. So many read the singular, “he distills.”

[36:27]  ³ tn This word עֵד (’ed) occurs also in Gen 2:6. The suggestion has been that instead of a mist it represents an underground watercourse that wells up to water the ground.