Job 37:2

Job 37:2 Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the sound [that] goeth out of his mouth.

Ver. 2. Hear attentively the noise of his voice] Coniunctam commotione vocem eius, the great thunder crack that now is; that angry noise, as the word signifieth. Hear in hearing; you cannot but hear it with the ears of your bodies, hear it also with the ears of your minds; tremble and sin not; contrary to the course of most men, who sin and tremble not, drowning the noise of their consciences, as the old Italians did the thunder, by ringing their greatest bells, discharging their Roaring Megs, {a huge piece of ordnance.} &c. But what saith Elihu here to his hearers? Audite, audite, audite etiam atque etiam, contremiscetis et vos, vos testes adhibeo, as Mercer paraphraseth it out of Kimchi: Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye again and again, and then ye also will tremble. I take you to witness; whether ye consider his greater thunder claps ringing and roaring in your ears, see Psa 29:4; Psa 87:7, or the lesser rumblings, called here Murmur vel mussitationem, vel habitum, citra quem sermo non profertur; the sound, or breath, that goeth out of his mouth. All is ascribed to God; though naturalists tell us, and truly, that there are second causes of thunder and lightning (Aristot. Pliny); wherein, nevertheless, we must not stick, but give God the glory of his majesty, as David teacheth, Psa 29:1-3, and as blind heathens did, when they called their Iove Altitonantem, the high thunderer. The best philosophy in this point is to hear God Almighty by his thunder speaking to us from heaven as if he were present; and to see him in his lightnings, as if he cast his eyes upon us to see what we had been doing. His eyes are as a flaming fire, Rev 1:14, and the school of nature teacheth, that the fiery eye seeth extra mittendo, by sending out a ray.

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.

Job 37:2. Hear attentively the noise of his voice — Or, as ברגז קלו, berogez kolo, may properly be rendered, his voice with trembling. The thunder is called God’s voice, because by it God speaks to the children of men to fear before him: and the sound that goeth out of his mouth — That is produced by his word or command. Poole, Henry, and divers other commentators, have thought it probable that, at this time, while Elihu was speaking, it thundered greatly, and that the tempest was begun wherewith God ushered in his speech, as it follows, Job 38:1. And this, they suppose, might occasion Elihu’s return to that subject, of which he had discoursed before. Bishop Patrick thus paraphrases this verse: “Hearken, I beseech you, seriously to the horrible noise which comes out of some of those clouds, and it will astonish you also. The smallest murmurs of it are so dreadful, that it may be fitly styled the voice of God calling men to stand in awe of him.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

37:2 The Old Testament often associates thunder with God’s voice (36:29, 33; 37:5; 38:1; Exod 19:16-19; Ps 104:7).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

That is, the thunder, whereby he speaketh to men to waken their dullness, and to bring them to the consideration of his works.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Hear attentively--the thunder (noise), &c., and then you will feel that there is good reason to tremble.

sound--muttering of the thunder.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 2. Hear attentively] "Hear with hearing." The words seem to intimate that there was actually at that time a violent storm of thunder and lightning, and that the successive peals were now breaking over the house, and the lightning flashing before their eyes. The storm continued till Elihu had finished, and out of that storm the Almighty spoke. See the beginning of the succeeding chapter. See Clarke on Job 38:1.

The noise of his voice] The sudden clap.

And the sound that goeth out.] The peal or continued rattling, pounding, and thumping, to the end of the peal. The whole is represented as the voice of God himself, and the thunder is immediately issuing from his mouth.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2. the sound that goeth] Or, the muttering. The thunder is the voice of God, going forth out of His mouth.

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.

Hear attentively the noise of his voice,.... Of the voice of God in the clouds; and of thunder, which is his voice, Job 40:9. Elihu being affected with it himself, exhorts the company about him to hearken and listen to it, and learn something from it;

and the sound that goeth out of his mouth: as the former clause may have respect to loud thunder, a more violent crack or clap of it; so this may intend some lesser whispers and murmurs of it at a distance; or a rumbling noise in the clouds before they burst; since the word is sometimes used for private meditation. Now the voice of God, whether in his works of nature, or in the dispensations of his providence, or in his word; whether in the thunder of the law, or in the still sound of the Gospel, is to be attentively hearkened to; because it is the voice of God, the voice of the God of glory, majestic and powerful, and is attended with various effects; of which see Psa 29:3.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Hear attentively - Margin, as in Hebrew “hear in hearing;” that is, bear with attention. It has been supposed by many, and not without probability, that the tempest was already seen rising, out of which God was to address Job Job 38, and that Elihu here calls the special attention of his hearers to the gathering storm, and to the low muttering thunder in the distance.

The noise of his voice - Thunder is often represented as the voice of God, and this was one of the most natural of all suppositions when its nature was little understood, and is at all times a beautiful poetic conception; see the whole of Psa 29:1-11. The word rendered “noise” (רגז rôgez), means properly “commotion,” that which is fitted to produce perturbation, or disquiet (see Job 3:17, Job 3:26; Isa 14:3), and is used here to denote the commotion, or “raging” of thunder.

And the sound - The word used here (הגה hegeh) means properly a “muttering growling” - as of thunder. It is often used to denote sighing, moaning, and meditation, in contradistinction from clear enunciation. Here it refers to the thunder which seems to mutter or growl in the sky.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

It seems not improbable, that whilst Elihu was speaking it thundered greatly, and that tempest was begun wherewith God ushered in his speech, as it here follows, Job 38:1, and that this occasioned his return to that subject of which he had discoursed before, and his exhortation to them to mind it with deeper attention.

The noise of his voice; or, his voice (to wit, the thunder, which is called a voice, Exo 20:18, and God’s voice, Psa 29:4) with trembling; because the thunder is an effect or evidence of God’s mighty power, and ofttimes of his anger also. The sound that goeth out of his mouth; as the voice (and thunder is God’s voice) goeth out of man’s mouth. Or, that is produced by God’s word or command, which is oft signified by his mouth.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2. Attentively — The Hebrew text repeats the preceding word, as in the margin, and may be read, “Hear, O hear.”

The sound — הגה signifies, also, a murmur (thus Maurer) or a thought. “We spend our years as a tale,”

(as a thought.) Psa_90:9. The thunder was the voice, the thought, of God. In the startled language, “Hear, O hear,” Elihu directs attention to the low-voiced, muttering thunder rolling along the sky.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the sound that goeth out of his mouth; or, Hearken ye, hearken ye to the noise of his voice. (comp. Psa_77:18:104:7; and below, vers. 4, 5) We need not suppose Elihu to speak otherwise than poetically. He does not, like the Indian of "... untutored mind, See God in clouds or hear him in the wind. He does not mean that the thunder is actually God"s voice, but that it tells of him, reminds of him, brings naturally to men"s minds the thought of his marvellous greatness and power, and should therefore be listened to with awe and trembling, not passed over lightly, like any other sound.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hear - It is probable that while Elihu was speaking it thundered, and that tempest was begun, wherewith God ushered in his speech. And this might occasion his return to that subject of which he had discoursed before. Voice - The thunder is called God's voice. Because by it God speaks to the children of men, to fear before him. Mouth - That is produced by God's word or command, which is often signified by his mouth.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Hear attentively the noise of His voice The thunders that He thunders in the sky are like a sound that emanates from His mouth.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.