Ayub 37:5

37:5 God thunders with his voice in marvelous ways; ¹ 

he does great things beyond our understanding. ² 

Ayub 37:16

37:16 Do you know about the balancing ³  of the clouds,

that wondrous activity of him who is perfect in knowledge?

Ayub 37:23

37:23 As for the Almighty, ⁴  we cannot attain to him!

He is great in power,

but justice ⁵  and abundant righteousness he does not oppress.

[37:5]  ¹ tn The form is the Niphal participle, “wonders,” from the verb פָּלָא (pala’, “to be wonderful; to be extraordinary”). Some commentators suppress the repeated verb “thunders,” and supply other verbs like “shows” or “works,” enabling them to make “wonders” the object of the verb rather than leaving it in an adverbial role. But as H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 236) notes, no change is needed, for one is not surprised to find repetition in Elihu’s words.

[37:5]  ² tn Heb “and we do not know.”

[37:16]  ³ tn As indicated by HALOT 618 s.v. מִפְלָשׂ, the concept of “balancing” probably refers to “floating” or “suspension” (cf. NIV’s “how the clouds hang poised” and J. E. Hartley, Job [NICOT], 481-82, n. 2).

[37:23]  ⁴ tn The name “Almighty” is here a casus pendens, isolating the name at the front of the sentence and resuming it with a pronoun.

[37:23]  ⁵ tn The MT places the major disjunctive accent (the atnach) under “power,” indicating that “and justice” as a disjunctive clause starting the second half of the verse (with ESV, NASB, NIV, NLT). Ignoring the Masoretic accent, NRSV has “he is great in power and justice.”