For by them judgeth he the people; he giveth meat in abundance.
31. For by them judgeth he the people ] Rather, the peoples. He judges the peoples by the lightning and the rain cloud. By the one He “scatters” and “discomfits” His enemies (Psa 18:14), and by the other He watereth the earth and makes it fruitful (Isa 55:10).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For by them judgeth he the people – By means of the clouds, the rain, the dew, the tempest, and the thunderbolt. The idea seems to be, that he makes use of all these to execute his purposes on mankind. He can either make them the means of imparting blessings, or of inflicting the severest, judgments. He can cause the tornado to sweep over the earth; he can arm the forked lightning against the works of art; he can withhold rain and dew, and spread over a land the miseries of famine.
He giveth meat in abundance – That is, by the clouds, the dew, the rain. The idea is, that he can send timely showers if he chooses, and the earth will be clothed with plenty. All these things are under his control, and he can, as he pleases, make them the means of comfort to man, or of punishing him for his sins; compare Psa 65:11-13.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 31. By them judgeth he the people] He makes storms, tempests, winds, hurricanes, tornadoes, thunder and lightning, drought and inundation, the instruments of his justice, to punish rebellious nations.
He giveth meat in abundance.] Though by these he punishes offenders, yet through the same, as instruments, he provides for the wants of men and animals in general. Storms, tempests, and hurricanes, agitate the lower regions of the atmosphere, disperse noxious vapours, and thus render it fit for respiration; and without these it would soon become a stagnant, putrid, and deadly mass, in which neither animals could live, nor vegetables thrive. And by dews, rains, snows, frosts, winds, cold, and heat, he fructifies the earth, and causes it to bring forth abundantly, so that every thing living is filled with plenteousness.
Some critics translate this latter clause thus: – He passeth sentence amain. I cannot see this meaning in the original words. Not one of the versions has so understood them; nor does this translation, supposing even that the Hebrew would bear it, give so fine and so elegant an idea as that of the common version. I always feel reluctant to give a sense in any case that is not supported in some of its parts by any of the ancient versions, and more especially when it is contrary to the whole of them; and still more particularly when opposed to the Arabic, which in the Book of Job, containing so many Arabisms, I consider to be of very great importance.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
By thunder and lightning he manifests his displeasure and executes his judgments against ungodly people or countries.
He giveth meat in abundance; or, and (which conjunction is oft understood) he giveth meat, &c., i.e. by the selfsame clouds he punisheth wicked men by thunder and lightning, and provideth for others by those plentiful showers which accompany them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
31. These (rain and lightnings)are marvellous and not to be understood (Job36:29), yet necessary. “For by them He judgeth(chastiseth on the one hand), c. (and on the other, by them) Hegiveth meat” (food), &c. (Job 37:13Job 38:23; Job 38:27;Act 14:17).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For by them judgeth he the people,…. That is, by the clouds; which the Lord uses both in a way of judgment, as expressed in this clause; and in a way of mercy, as in the following; by these, and what issue out of them, as rain, hail, winds, thunder, and lightning, he sometimes punishes the inhabitants of the earth, as he did the old world by a deluge of water, which came partly from the fountains of the great deep, and partly from the windows of heaven, which destroyed man and beast, and the increase of the earth, Ge 7:11; he punished the Egyptians by a violent storm of hail, Ex 9:23; and slew many of the Canaanites with hailstones, Jos 10:11; Pharaoh and his host sunk like lead when he blew with his wind, Ex 15:10; and Sodom and Gomorrah, with the cities of the plain, were destroyed with thunder and lightning, fire and brimstone, from heaven, Ge 19:24; as the army of the Philistines were discomfited by thunder in the times of Samuel, 1Sa 7:10; and the captains of fifties, with their men, were consumed by lightning in the times of Elijah, 2Ki 1:14; and as the heavens and the earth will be burnt with fire at the end of all things, Mt 13:40 2Pe 3:12;
he giveth meat in abundance; very plentifully, or to a multitude of creatures, both men and cattle; who have a liberal supply of food by means of the clouds and rain, which falling upon the earth make it fruitful, so that it gives bread to the eater, and seed to the sower; causes grass to grow up for the beasts of the field, and produces bread corn, oil, and wine, for the benefit of men; an emblem of the variety and plenty of spiritual food dispensed to the churches of Christ, through the ministry of the word, and by the ministers of it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(31) For by themi.e., these roots of the sea, these drops of water, these rain-clouds. He judgeth peoples by withholding them, or giveth meat in abundance by sending rain on the earth; or He may use them in excess, to chastise nations by inundations and the like. The change from roots of the sea to bottom of the sea in the Authorised Version has obscured the meaning of them in the next verse, unless, indeed, we understand it generally, by these things.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
31. By them (the lightning and the cloud) He ruleth the nations. The verse is parenthetical. The lightning is his sceptre, the fertilizing cloud his storehouse of food. With the one he smites, with the other he blesses.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 36:31 For by them judgeth he the people; he giveth meat in abundance.
Ver. 31. For by them judgeth he the people ] i.e. By rain and drought in excess or defect, he punisheth people at his pleasure; whom oh how easily could he affamish by denying them a harvest or two! in granting whereof he giveth testimony of his bounty, Job 14:17 .
He giveth meat in abundance
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
people = peoples.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
by: Job 37:13, Job 38:22, Job 38:23, Gen 6:17, Gen 7:17-24, Gen 19:24, Exo 9:23-25, Deu 8:2, Deu 8:15, Jos 10:11, 1Sa 2:10, 1Sa 7:10, 1Sa 12:18
he giveth: Job 38:26, Job 38:27, Psa 65:9-13, Psa 104:13-15, Psa 104:27, Psa 104:28, Psa 136:25, Act 14:17
Reciprocal: Gen 1:29 – to you
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 36:31-33. For by them he judgeth the people By thunder and lightning, and rain from the clouds, he executes his judgments against ungodly people. He giveth meat By the same clouds by which he punisheth wicked men, he provideth plentiful showers to drop fatness upon the earth. With clouds he covereth the light With thick and black clouds spread over the whole heavens, as in times of great thunders and lightnings, he obscures the light of the day, or the splendour of the shining sun. Hebrew, , gnal cappaim, with hands he covereth the sun; either the clouds are so called for their resemblance to hands, or the meaning is, that God covereth the light as by the hollow of his hand. And commandeth it not to shine Or, , jetzav, giveth a charge concerning it, that it shall be covered; by the cloud that cometh betwixt Which God interposes as a veil between the sun and the earth. The noise thereof showeth concerning it The thunder gives notice of the approaching rain. The cattle also, &c. As the thunder, so also the cattle showeth concerning the vapour Concerning the coming of the rain, by a strange instinct, seeking for shelter when a change of weather is near.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
36:31 For by them judgeth he {y} the people; he giveth meat in abundance.
(y) He shows that the rain has a double use: the one that it declares God’s judgments, when it overflows any places, and the other that it makes the land fruitful.