Job · Chapter 37

and spring Heb. ויתר, and spring, like (Lev. 11:21) “to hop (לנתר) with them upon the earth.” And this means that his heart is astonished.

'And is moved' [vayetar] — meaning: and is displaced from its place.

'At this also' — even at the wonders that the Omnipresent performs at the time of the descent of the rain — even though this is the least of His works — nevertheless, even at this my heart trembles and leaps from its place, from the greatness of my astonishment.

Is moved (veyittar) - An expression of leaping, of jumping, as in 'to leap with them (lenater bahen) upon the earth' (Leviticus 11).

'At this also' — after he has finished speaking of thunder, he says: is not thunder a natural sound, one that before Hashem is reckoned as no more than a slight murmur, a faint sound? Yet even so, man is terrified and trembles greatly before it. How much more, then, would he be terrified if Hashem were to thunder with the voice of the wonders that are above nature — a great and awesome voice! It is as though he says: if you cannot withstand even the power of weak, natural things, how could you withstand the power to probe His wondrous governance, which is above nature? This is the meaning of 'at this also' — that is, at the sound of the thunder's blast — 'my heart trembles' and 'is moved out of its place,' out of fear.

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

'And the sound' [vehegeh] — meaning: a noun from the sense of utterance; the intent of it is a sound, namely thunder.

'Hear attentively' — for at the time of its descent, His voice is clearly heard, thundering in anger; and this is the sound of thunder. 'And the sound' — the utterance that goes out from His mouth is the thunder mentioned, which goes forth by the decree of the Omnipresent; and this is a repetition of the same matter in different words.

Attentively (berogez) - [Literally, 'with trembling';] an expression of tremor and dread, as in 'tremble (rigzu), and sin not' (Psalms 4). The sound (vehegeh) - An expression of speech, as in 'and my tongue shall speak (tehgeh) [of Your righteousness]' (Psalms 35).

'Hear attentively the noise of His voice' — for thunder is pictured as an angry voice from Hashem; and although it is only a murmur that issues from His mouth — since with Hashem even this is reckoned as a mere murmur, a very faint sound — nevertheless it is so very terrifying, to the point that... [text breaks off here in the source].

Beneath the entire heaven I have seen it Heb. ישרהו, I have seen it, like (Num. 24:17), “I behold it (אשורנו).” They are the lights illuminated by the lightnings.

'He sends it forth under the whole heaven' — 'His light' is the lightning. Rav Saadia Gaon said that it speaks concerning the Omnipresent, but this is incorrect, for it does not connect with the verses above and below. The word 'yashrehu' is like 'steeping of grapes' (mishrat anavim, Numbers 6:3) — a term known from the language of our Rabbis, of blessed memory: 'shorin' [they steep]. Some say it is from 'yashar' [straight], but that is far-fetched.

'He sends it forth' [yashrehu] — like "yishro" [it goes straight]; the sense is that it travels directly downward beneath the whole heavens, so that it is heard there, in all the places over which the cloud extends. He said this because sound is a motion that reaches the sense of hearing by means of the air, which receives the form of that motion. Or the intent of "yashrehu" may be "yelachlecho" [He moistens it] — the sense being that He moistens the cloud, and rain descends from it. 'And His lightning to the ends of the earth' [ve'oro al kanfot ha'aretz] — meaning: and the lightning that goes out from it descends below, to the ends of the earth; and this is wondrous in two respects: first, that fire issues from the place where the water was, and second, that it descends below, whereas its nature is to rise upward.

'He sends it forth under the whole heaven' — that is, He sends the sound forth in a straight path under the whole heaven, and does not make it circle round by a crooked path; and then He also sends forth the light of His lightning to the ends of the earth, for at the moment the thunder goes out, the lightning goes out as well, as the natural philosophers have determined.

He sends it forth (yishrehu) - An expression of yashar (straight) and shaveh (level); [meaning, He directs it on a straight course]. The ends of (kanfot) - [Meaning] the extremities, the edges.

'He sends it forth under the whole heaven' — that is, they observe and gaze at it from afar, under the whole heaven; and His light — that is, the lightning that is seen together with the thunder, through the electric light that then bursts forth — is seen at the corners of the earth.

In its wake [i.e., in the wake] of that light, the thunder roars, and it thunders with the voice of its pride. Those are the lightnings and the thunders, which bring the rain. and He will not cut them off The Omnipresent [will not cut off the thunder and the lightning]. for...will be heard before Him the voice of the one who prays. He will...cut them off Heb. יעקבם, He will cut them off, [and in the language of the Mishnah we learned (Sotah 16a): in three instances, the halachah supplants (עוקבת) the text].

'And He stays them not' — the mem [in 'ye'akvem'] is a marker referring to the clouds; the sense is that He does not delay — from the same sense as 'eikev' in 'to the end, forever' (Psalms 119:112).

'And He stays them not' [velo ya'akvem] — meaning: and He does not delay them.

'After it a voice roars' — but the roar of the sound with which He thunders in the voice of His majesty is heard by the ear only after the lightning is seen, even though the sound, too, travels in a straight path. 'And He stays them not' — in truth, He does not really delay the sounds from going out after the flashes of lightning and following them: if His voice were heard the instant it went out — that is, if it were heard immediately — then it would be known that it does not lag behind in going out after the lightning. But because hearing is a coarser sense and sight a finer one, the lightning is seen before the thunder is heard; and so people imagine that this is truly the order in which they occur — but it is not so, and this is a wondrous and astonishing thing.

His majesty (ge'ono) - An expression of ga'avah (pride, majesty). He stays them (ye'akvem) - An expression of an end, a conclusion, like the heel (akev), which is the end of the foot [i.e., He does not hold them back or delay them].

'After it a voice roars' — after the light and the lightning that goes forth, 'a voice roars' — that is, the voice of the thunder, which comes forth after the lightning; 'He thunders with the voice of His majesty' — for the sound of the thunder keeps growing and intensifying; 'and He stays them not when His voice is heard' — for in truth the thunder is emitted first, before the lightning; only, because the sound is delayed on its way until it reaches the ear of the hearer, while the sense of sight perceives instantly, the lightning therefore appears before the thunder. But had its voice been heard the instant it went forth, it would 'not stay them' — the sound would not go out late, trailing in the wake of the lightning, for it would be heard at once, not lagging behind it.

'God thunders' — behold, God thunders with His voice wondrous thunders, which we have heard and come to know; how much more, then, are the still greater things He does, which we cannot know!

'God thunders marvelously with His voice' — with this he concludes his words. He says: if you are frightened and terrified by the sound of ordinary, natural thunder, and do not even understand its nature and character, nor can you manage to hear it the instant it is emitted — how much more so when 'God thunders marvelously with His voice,' when He thunders with a voice that is above nature, a wondrous and marvelous voice, which is a figure for matters in which He conducts Himself above the laws of nature — how much more so that we cannot know or grasp them! And how then could you wish to probe and know the wondrous secrets of Hashem, the things that lie beyond nature?

For He says to the snow through these voices. ‘Be upon the earth’; likewise to the shower of rain and to the showers of His mighty rain That is to say that it comes from the four directions.

'For He says to the snow' — that it is to be upon the earth. I have already noted in my book Moznei HaLashon that every matter requires a time and a place; therefore one sometimes finds in the Holy Tongue [locative expressions] without the letter bet, as in 'the money that was found [in] the House of Hashem' (2 Kings 12:10).

'The showers of His mighty rain' [matrot uzo] — meaning: showers of strength; and the vav [in "uzo"] is extra [a full spelling].

'For He says to the snow' — that He commands the snow to be upon the earth, and indeed we see it upon the earth; and so, too, He commands the shower of rain, and so, too, He commands the shower of His mighty rains, meaning a strong, sweeping rain — and all of these are visible to every eye at the time they fall.

Fall you (havei) - Equivalent to 'heyeh' (be); the letters vav and aleph here stand in place of the yod and heh [of the standard form].

'For He says to the snow' — after relating the matter of the rain and the thunder bound up with it, he returns to speak of the vapors that produce rain — their laws and their nature. In the season of autumn, the heat departs from the vapors, and then they congeal in the air, and from them are formed snow, frost, and ice — so that this very law by which rain is formed itself turns the droplets of water into snow. Then all labor of the soil and work of the field ceases, and the days of frost begin, until spring arrives, the air grows warm, and the rain returns to fall — and so he begins to depict the days of autumn and winter. For regarding the snow, of which it says '[fall] on the earth' — the sense of the verse is: when it says 'on the earth,' and 'the shower of rain,' and 'the showers of His mighty rain,' this refers to snow — that is, when Hashem decrees that the earth and every kind of rain and downpour present in the air shall all be transformed and turned into snow, to the point that everything existing over the globe of the earth, up to the region of the clouds, is turned into snow.

By the hand of every man he seals When a man sins before Him, the man himself signs his signature on the day of his death to the sins that he committed, which are written before him. so that every man should know his deed to let him know for what he is being judged.

'He seals up the hand of every man' — some say [this means]: 'at the side of every man' [reading 'hand' as 'side']. 'Seals up' — that the rain keeps them from going out, so that every man may know the work of his own field. Others said: that the Omnipresent 'seals,' by the hand of every man, the deeds that they will do — and he mentions this matter here on account of the rain, in the sense of 'if you will hearken … then I will give the rain of your land' (Deuteronomy 11:14). But the view closer to me is that it speaks of the sower: for after the rain falls, people sow, and the Omnipresent seals, by the hand of each and every one, what will become of the seed.

'He seals up' [yachtom] — meaning: He shuts and closes, so that no man can go outside, because of the abundance of rain.

'He seals up the hand of every man' — yet despite this, He shuts and seals it away from all mankind, so that they have no advance knowledge of it before it comes, so that every working man may know His doing — meaning, so that every man engaged in a task will hurry to finish his work before the rain comes, lest it stop him once it arrives.

The hand of (beyad) - This is equivalent to 'betokh' (within, amid), as in 'through the two spouts (beyad shenei tzantarot)' (Zechariah 4:12). He seals up (yachtom) - [Meaning] he shuts up, closes, as in 'for it is sealed (chatum hu)' (Isaiah 29). Whom He has made (anshei ma'asehu) - Here the phrase compresses a repeated construct: properly it would read 'anshei ma'aseh, uma'asehu' (the workers of [His] work - that is, His work). So too, 'the ark, the covenant' (ha'aron habrit) (Joshua 3:14), whose full form would be 'the ark, the ark of the covenant' (ha'aron aron habrit), with the repeated word 'aron' dropped the second time.

'He seals up the hand of every man' — then every man who gathered and stored in summer seals up — that is, closes off — all his labors, for then all work ceases; and each one seals, as it were, the record-book of his deeds with his own hand, and he reckons an accounting so as to know all the people of his workforce — for once the work has ceased, the laborers are then paid their wages, and an accounting is made of what each of the workers did during the time of labor, in order to give him what is due him.

The beasts go into ambush That is to say that the Omnipresent has many more agents through which to mete out His punishments: the inciting of wild beasts, the tempest, and the cold.

'Then the beasts go into coverts' — at the time of the rain.

'Then the beasts go into coverts' — even though the beast attains knowledge of the rain before it comes, and hurries ahead to the place where it dwells, and lies in wait there to seize its prey, and abides in its dens and does not then go outside — man's understanding, then, falls short even of a thing that the beast is able to grasp.

Into coverts (bemo arev) - Equivalent to 'be'arev' (into a lair, an ambush) [with the poetic insertion of the syllable 'mo'], as in 'with my mouth (bemo fi) I would entreat' (above, 19). In their dens (uvim'onoteha) - An expression of dwelling, as in 'You have been [our] dwelling place (ma'on)' (Psalms 90:1).

'Then the beasts go into coverts' — likewise, every living creature ceases its activity in the field, for the wild animal comes as if in ambush into the forests and the parched wastes, and dwells in its lairs because of the cold that is on its way. There are creatures that lurk there in secret against creatures smaller than themselves, and of these it says 'as it were in ambush'; and there are creatures that sleep the sleep of winter, or that have made provision to keep themselves warm for the winter season, and of these it says 'and remain in their dens.'

and from Mezarim There is a treasury, named Mezarim.

'Out of the Chamber comes the storm' — it is possible that this is like 'the chambers of the south' (Job 9:9), from the southern direction, as I have explained there. 'Out of the north' — some say it means the northern direction. Some say it is from 'constellations' (mazalot). Some say it is from 'the net is spread' — but that is far-fetched. The correct view, in my opinion, is that these are stars, as in 'can you bring forth the Mazzaroth in its season?' (Job 38:32).

'Out of the Chamber comes the storm' [min hacheder tavo sufah] — meaning: from the chamber of the cloud comes the wind; and this happens when a vapor opposite to it is confined within it, for it happens to this composite vapor that wind arises from it, as has been explained in the Book of Meteorology [Sefer HaOtot]. 'And cold out of the north' [umimezarim karah] — meaning: that a strong cold comes from the "mezarim" winds, which scatter and disperse the vapors — these being the northern winds, as mentioned in the Book of Meteorology. Or "mimezarim" may be related to the sense of "zerem" [torrent], so that it would stand for "mezarim" as though it were "mezarem" — similar to the case of "tomeich gorni," which functions like "tomech." Or it may be a form combining the intensive [pi'el] and causative [hif'il] conjugations, for many words are found that combine two grammatical patterns.

'Out of the Chamber' — he goes on to relate more of the wonders of the Omnipresent, and says: behold, the storm-wind comes from the chamber where the wind is confined — these being the "chambers of the south," as it is written, "Who makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, And the chambers of the south" (Job 9:9). 'And cold out of the north' — the cold comes from the constellations, this being the constellation of the Pleiades.

Out of the north (umimezarim) - [Meaning] from the constellations, as in 'can you lead forth the Mazzaroth (mazarot) in their season' (below, 38); the resh here stands in place of a lamed. So too, 'and he knew his widows (almenotav)' (Ezekiel 19:7) - which is equivalent to 'armenotav' (his palaces) - where, conversely, the lamed stands in place of a resh. Cold (karah) - An expression of kor hachoref (wintry cold).

'Out of the Chamber comes the storm' — then come the great storms and tempests that come from the direction of the south; and through the north wind, which scatters the clouds, cold comes; and afterward [text breaks off here in the source].

From the breath of By His wind. and the breadth of the waters in a good When they are poured out in retribution.

'The breadth of the waters is straitened' [bamutzak] — mutzak is the earth, which is like a fixed point at the center of the [celestial] spheres.

'By the breath of God' [minishmat el] — meaning: by the will of God. 'Is straitened' [bemutzak] — meaning: from the same root as "matzuk" [distress, constriction]; this occurs when the dew freezes, and frost forms from it.

'By the breath of God' — from the blowing of the wind of God; meaning, by the word of His mouth the ice comes, and the breadth of the waters is drawn into a narrow, constricted space, until they can no longer raise up waves, because the ice lies over them from above.

By the breath (minishmat) - An expression of the blowing of the wind, as in 'by the breath of God they perish (minishmat Eloah yovedu)' (above, 4). Ice (karach) - This is the crust that congeals from the cold, as in 'He casts forth His ice like crumbs' (Psalms 147:17). Is straitened (bemutzak) - In a narrow, constricted place, as in 'a broad place, where there is no straitness (rachav lo mutzak)' (above, 36).

'By the breath of God ice is given' — through the breathing forth of the wind with great force, ice is produced, and the breadth of the waters is turned into a solid — that is, there forms from it a firm substance, the freezing, which freezes great, wide-spreading rivers.

Aph Beri The name of the angel who is appointed over the clouds, and he scatters the Omnipresent’s rain cloud.

'Indeed, He lades the thick cloud with moister' [af beri] — its sense is 'sometimes'; therefore he says: even when the air is clear, the Omnipresent burdens it with a cloud. 'He spreads abroad' — like 'let your springs be dispersed abroad' (Proverbs 5:16); and they explained 'He spreads abroad the cloud of His lightning' to mean that sometimes the rain comes down while the sun can still be seen. Some say that the bet in the word 'beri' merely serves [as a prefix], and explain 'ri' from 'revayah' [saturation] — but this is far-fetched.

'With moisture' [beri] — related to the sense of clarification [beirur]; its root is "barah," and it follows the pattern of "meri." The intent is that even the clarifying process that happens to the parts of the vapor — until it disperses and dissolves — occurs before rain is formed from it. 'He lades the thick cloud' [yatriach av] — meaning: I mean that a cloud is sometimes found from which nothing at all results, but it merely disperses and dissolves; and therefore he said "yatriach" [lades, burdens], meaning that the existence of such a cloud is a burden and a labor, since no benefit results from it.

'Indeed, He lades the thick cloud with moister' — even at a time when the air is clear, and there is, by nature, no room for rain to come, He nonetheless burdens the thick cloud, filling it with the heavy weight of abundant water, and scatters its rain over the face of the earth. And our Sages, of blessed memory, said that the angel appointed over rain is named Af Beri.

Moister (beri) - An expression of barur (clear) and naki (pure). He spreads abroad (yafitz) - [Meaning] he scatters, as in 'and I scattered them (va'afitz otam)' (Ezekiel 36).

'Indeed, He lades the thick cloud with moister' — this too refers to the clear, bright substance that burdens the thick cloud, namely the white snow and the hail, which are a burden and a weight upon the cloud, until it can no longer bear it; 'He spreads abroad the cloud of His lightning' — the cloud disperses it downward.

And he who is thus appointed. turns around in circuits by His guidance [i.e., by the guidance] of the Omnipresent. for their work namely, of the rains; for the work which is incumbent upon them to do, either good or evil, he is turned about with many circuits, as [the passage] that we learned (Rosh Hashanah 17b): if Israel were perfectly righteous on Rosh Hashanah so that [much] rain was decreed for them, and they should later become sinful—it would be impossible to decrease it [the amount of rain] because the decree would already have gone forth; but the Holy One, blessed be He, would let it come down out of its season and upon a land that did not require it. “And sometimes to do good”; how is this? etc. whatever He commands them Those rains, to do on earth. [Another explanation: And he turns around in circuits with His guidance—He causes the clouds and the winds to encompass the mountains so that they should be watered from all sides. In the Aggadah of “Vehayah ekev” (Sifrei Ekev 39).]

'And they are turned round about' — [some say this refers to] the Omnipresent, who turns [the clouds] about through various causes. But the correct view, in my opinion, is that it refers to the [celestial] sphere, which turns through the Omnipresent's design, for the sake of the deeds of mankind.

'And they' — this cloud, owing to various causes, turns about hither and thither, through its many maneuvers, to carry out the task laid upon it, according to all that the Omnipresent commands it, so as to pour rain over the face of the earth; meaning, the fact that the clouds turn about hither and thither is not by chance, but on account of a cause, and in order to carry out the mission of the Omnipresent.

By His guidance (betachbulotav) - An expression of the exercise of wisdom, of strategy, in some matter. Upon the face of the habitable world (tevel artzah) - The inhabited part of the earth is called 'tevel'; meaning, upon the inhabited part of the earth. Or, the phrase doubles the word using synonymous terms, as in 'the dust of the earth (admat afar)' (Daniel 12).

'And they are turned round about by His guidance' — this matter revolves in cycles: the law that Hashem placed within the nature of the vapors and within the nature of the air and the heat stored within them keeps turning and revolving forever — in summer it brings down the rains and thunders forth thunder, and in winter it turns the rain into snow and the water into ice, by drawing the heat out of the water. That is, through this single cause, which He placed within the vapors and the waters, He brings about all these opposite phenomena that are the products of heat and cold; and it turns about through His devices — through Hashem's contrivances and the interlinking of His counsels and the laws of His wisdom, which are bound one to another like a chain — the cycle forever turns according to what He has ordered in wisdom, so that they may act upon the face of the habitable world, whatsoever He commands them; for through these ever-turning cycles, Hashem carries out all His will and His decrees in the governance of the lower world, for good or for ill.

Whether for the rod Whether for the punishment of men, He lets them fall on mountains and hills, which are not places for sowing. whether for His land To let them fall as originally decreed, neither for the rod nor within the boundary of justice [i.e., for more benefit than strict justice warrants], but midway between [these two extremes]. or for kindness If the generation became more righteous than they were on Rosh Hashanah, then the rain which was decreed to fall in an average manner, shall be turned about by the guidance of their circuits to fall, with kindness, in their season and upon the land that requires them, so that not a drop of them should go to waste. that He cause it to come The rain, in one of these ways.

'Whether it be for correction' — to destroy the crop. 'Or for His earth' — or [this too may be] for a rod [of chastisement], like 'great stones' (Joshua 10:11) or a deluge upon the sea. Now he has mentioned three purposes here: the first, for correction; the second, for His earth — on account of the need of the land and its righteous inhabitants, in the sense of 'according to their deeds'; and the third, for His mercy. Thus the phrase returns to 'whether for correction, or for His earth' — meaning, 'according to their deeds.'

'Whether it be for correction' — sometimes it turns about to bring down rain in order to punish creatures by means of it; for when they sin, it comes down upon a deep, low-lying place, and the rain is harmful to them. 'Or for His earth' — sometimes it turns about to bring down rain upon the land of Hashem, meaning: to the place where the people are Hashem's own, submissive to Him, the ones for whom the rain has been decreed. 'Or for mercy' — sometimes it turns about to bring down rain in order to perform through it a kindness even more wondrous than what was decreed: that is, when at first only a small measure of rain was decreed, and afterward the people improved their deeds, He performs a wondrous kindness by bringing it down in the place of greatest need, and He does not waste a single drop by letting it fall where there is no need for it. 'That He cause it to come' — this refers back to all of them, meaning: He makes the rain available and directs it toward one of these purposes — whether for correction, and so on.

For correction (leshevet) - An expression of retributive punishment, as in 'by the rod of His wrath (beshevet evrato)' (Lamentations 3). That He cause it to come (yamtzi'ehu) - An expression of summoning, of bringing to pass, as in 'and cause every man to find according to his ways (yamtzi'ennu)' (above, 34).

'Whether it be for correction' — that is, Divine governance divides into three modes. Sometimes Hashem wishes to chastise His creatures with the rod, and conducts Himself by the attribute of judgment; sometimes He conducts Himself by the attribute of mercy; and sometimes He conducts Himself along a middle course, granting neither abundant good nor abundant calamity. And Hashem brings about this cycle for whatever He wills — whether it is needed for correction, or needed 'for His earth' — that is, the middle course, following the ordinary way of the world — or sometimes it is needed for mercy — in every case He brings it about, producing the cycle according to His will: if for correction, He shuts up the heavens and the water turns to snow; if for mercy, He grants rains of blessing; if for His earth, He brings down the rain in a measured amount. And all this governance is carried out in wisdom, by means of the law He placed in the nature of the water, the vapors, and the clouds.

'Hearken to this' — pay close attention with your ears to my words, be silent, and set your heart to understand the wondrous works of God; meaning, that these things come from God and are attributed to Him, and not to the celestial order.

Stand still (amod) - [Meaning] be silent, as in 'they stand still, and answer no more (amedu lo anu)' (above, 32).

'Hearken to this, O Job' — after relating at length Hashem's wisdom, manifest in the wonders of rain, thunder, and snow, and how He orders everything with understanding, he turns back to address Job, saying to him: first, 'hearken to this, O Job,' and see whether you understand Hashem's laws and His wisdom in these matters, which are ever visible before your eyes; and only afterward, 'stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God' — for if you understand what is revealed, the workings of nature, only then could you rise up to probe the wonders that lie beyond nature. That is to say: do you not fail to understand even nature itself — the matter of rain, thunder, and snow, and their inner workings? How then did your heart dare to probe and pass judgment on the wonders of God, matters hidden and concealed?

how God places the law of the covenant upon them, how they are suspended by His decree.

'Do you know how God enjoins them' — that is, as when the Omnipresent set the clouds over mankind. 'And causes [it] to shine' — that is, He showed the light within the clouds. Or, [this leads on to] 'do you know the balancings of the clouds' (Job 37:16) — like 'weigh the path of your feet' (Proverbs 4:26) — as if the clouds are weighed in a balance.

'How God enjoins them' [besum Eloha aleihem] — meaning: when God decrees concerning them that their manner should be in this fashion. 'And causes [the lightning] to shine' [vehofia] — meaning: and it shines; it is an infinitive, and this occurs when the smoky vapor ignites.

'Do you know' — meaning, how can you think that everything comes from the side of the celestial order? Have you not learned wisdom, and come to know something of natural things before they occur? Do you also know this: when did God place rain upon the cloud, and when did the rain of His cloud appear and become revealed? That is, when was the moment the drop of rain left the cloud? For this is never known from natural signs until it is actually seen by the eye, and not before. And the phrase 'the light of His cloud,' at the end of the verse, refers back to the beginning of the verse as well.

Causes ... to shine (vehofia) - [Meaning] causes to rise, to shine [as the sun]; it is used here figuratively for the appearing of the rain and its being made visible.

Do you know how God enjoins them, and causes the lightning of His cloud to shine – can you really know and understand, in God's appointing His statutes over them, how Hashem set the laws of rain and downpour: how the light of His cloud shines forth, how the rain issues from the cloud, and how it gathers within itself the light and the electricity through which all these changes and this whole mechanism take place? Indeed, even this you do not know, even though these are things that are plainly visible — and so:

the revelations of the clouds Heb. מפלשי, the revelation of the clouds, an expression of an open (מפלש) alley, i.e., to the length and the width of the clouds. Do you know concerning them, the wonders of Him Who is perfect in knowledge?

'The balancings of the clouds' [miflesei av] — like "mifresei" [above, 36:29]; its explanation has already been given.

'Do you know' — do you know the wonders of Hashem, perfect in knowledge, which He performs upon the spreadings-out of the clouds, above them? It is as if to say: you do not even know what happens within the clouds themselves — do you know what is above them?

The balancings of (mifelesei) - Equivalent to 'mifresei' (the spreadings of), with the lamed interchanged for a resh - just as with 'mazalot' and 'mazarot' [see above, 37:9].

Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge – and how could you possibly know that which is above the layers of the clouds, that which is above the clouds in the heights of heaven, where the wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge are, for that is the place of the wonders that transcend perceptible nature? How could you possibly know and grasp what is there, if you do not even know what is from the cloud downward, where the dwelling-place of the laws of nature is? How will you know the governance of Hashem and His wonders, which are above the perceptible and above nature?

How your garments are warm How your garments are warm when He silences the earth from the south wind, so that it should not kill the world with cold, because the east wind warms it. As it is stated (Jonah 4:8): “a stilling east wind,” which quiets all other winds before it.

'You whose garments are warm' — the sense is the days of summer, for most winds then are northerly, because the sun is then in the northern part [of the sky]. 'When the earth is still' [behashkit] — most of the commentators said that 'behashkit' means 'when it arrives,' the opposite of stillness, and they cite in support 'the earth feared, and was still' (Psalms 76:9). But this is far-fetched: for a single word to be explained by both its meaning and its opposite, with no change in grammatical form — as with [the distinct forms] 'shoresh' and 'sheresh' — [is implausible]. It would have been more correct for them to say: could you become warm, were it not for the south wind?

'You whose garments are warm' — this refers back to the word 'Do you know' stated in the preceding verse, meaning: do you know the reason your garments are warm at the time the earth is still because of the south wind? That is, when the very cold north wind does not blow against it, and the air turns warm, and the garments, too, grow warm — do you know why this is so? Are they not lifeless things? From where, then, does their stirring to grow warm come? It is as if to say: were everything truly to come from the side of the celestial order, it would then be possible to know it all, just as we know natural things.

You whose garments are warm, when the earth is still by reason of the south wind – he adds a parable and a figure of speech: is it not so that at the time when the earth grows still because of the hot south wind, which warms greatly when the earth is quiet from other winds — is it not so that then your garments are very warm, and you cannot bear the natural heat that is upon you on earth? And if so, how...

strong the skies. as a molten mirror Like a mirror into which women look. [molten tristre, which is very strong.]

'Can you with Him spread out the sky' — the interrogative heh is [understood though] omitted. The 'sky' [shechakim] refers to the clouds; they are so called because they are a fine vapor — from 'and pound some of it very fine' (Exodus 30:36) — and are likewise called 'raq' [thin] and 'raki'a' [firmament]; they lie beneath the [celestial] spheres. The sense is: can you help Him spread out the skies and make them firm, so that they are like a solid mirror, so that light can be seen from them?

'As a molten mirror' [kir'i mutzak] — meaning: like a cast mirror; that is, like the appearance of glass, which is clear and translucent [sapphire-like]. He says of the skies that they are strong, and that they too are translucent, like a molten mirror.

'Can you with Him spread out the sky' — have you, together with Him, spread out the skies, strong as the mirror of the women, made by casting — which is stronger than one made by blows of the hammer? Or, the sense is, that they are firm in their brilliance, like the appearance of a molten object at the moment it is smelted, which shines very brightly. It is as if to say: do you have the power of God, that you should say, 'I will lay out my case before Him'?

Spread out (tarkia) - An expression of spreading and laying out, as in "to Him who spreads out (lerokea) the earth" (Psalms 136:6); its correct form is "hatarkia," with the interrogative heh, and [the verse] is terse, omitting what is understood [from context] - and there are many examples like it. The sky (lashechakim) - The letter lamed here stands in place of "et" [the direct-object marker]; so too, "they killed Abner (hargu le'Avner)" (II Samuel 6). As a mirror (kera'i) - From the terms "re'iyah" (sight) and "mar'eh" (appearance). Molten (mutzak) - From the term "yetzikah" (pouring, casting).

Can you with Him spread out the sky, which is strong as a molten mirror – how do you wish to spread out to the height of the skies, to argue there with God — skies which are as strong as a molten mirror, which are like a mirror, like the polished mirrors that are solid and strong and burnished to catch the sparks of light, so that when the light strikes their polished, convex surface and casts the sparks back, they burn with a blazing fire anyone who comes near them. That is to say: if you cannot bear the natural heat, how will you bear the great, wondrous fire that is above nature? And the moral is: if you do not grasp nature, how will you grasp the wonders?

Let us know what we shall say to Him To the Holy One, blessed be He, when we contend with Him. We will not be able to set up a case with Him because of the darkness which conceals and surrounds Him.

'Teach us what we shall say to Him' — what understanding do we have, that we could say to Him, 'why is this so?' And likewise, [the phrase] 'we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness' [means] that we ourselves are in darkness.

'We cannot order [our speech]' [lo na'aroch] — meaning: we cannot arrange our words and set them out before Hashem, because of the darkness that we are in, on account of material nature, and our shortcoming in fully grasping the workings of Hashem in their perfection.

'Teach us' — teach us what we shall say in the case; as if to say: we, too, would have argued with Him on your behalf, but tell us, what shall we say? 'We cannot order' — for we cannot lay out a case before Him, because of the darkness of understanding that is with us, compared to the wisdom of the Omnipresent.

Teach us what we shall say to Him; for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness – he concludes the argument. After he has proven that it is not fitting to decide anything by the wisdom of what is beyond nature, and in matters of divinity, now: what shall we say to Him about the argument I am conducting with you on these matters? Would it not have been proper for us to say to Him, ‘We cannot marshal our case because of darkness’ — that it is impossible to conduct this argument at all, and to determine anything there, because of the darkness that is in it? That is to say, because man's eye is too dim to look upon God, who has made darkness His hiding place, and whose ways are hidden from man — so that it would be proper for us not to conduct this argument at all. But:

Need it be told to Him when I speak Is He like mortals, that He must be told what we are saying? or need a man tell utter with his mouth. what is kept a secret so that it should be revealed to Him immediately, like (II Sam. 17:16), “lest the king be told secretly (יבלע)” [lest] it be revealed. But our Sages (Meg. 18a) explained: Can all His praise be told Him, that I should speak That we should speak of Him and His might? Has any man said to tell them all, he would surely be destroyed from his place.

'Shall it be told Him that I would speak?' — the sense is: a person has no need to have anything told to Him — even if he merely speaks it in his heart — for telling of what he lacks will not help him. Rav Hai Gaon, of blessed memory, said that 'swallowed up' refers to the sun.

'That he were swallowed up' [yevula] — meaning: that he be destroyed.

'Shall it be told Him' — meaning, why should we lay out a case with Him at all? Is it even necessary to tell Him what I would say? Is not everything already known to Him? 'Or should a man wish' — has a man ever said something that could be hidden from Him? And this repeats the same matter in other words.

Swallowed up (yevula) - An expression of concealment, as in "when the holy things are covered (kevala et hakodesh)" (Numbers 4:20).

Shall it be told Him that I would speak? Or should a man wish that he were swallowed up? – is it fitting that it be told to Him if I speak so, saying that I do not wish to marshal a case and argue about this — at a time when a man says ‘I am swallowed up,’ at a time when a man comes to deny Providence and says that he is swallowed up and covered and hidden from the eyes of Hashem, and that Hashem does not watch over him — shall I too then speak so, saying that we should not marshal a case and argue, because of the darkness? This is not proper. For although we do not grasp matters of divinity, and it is darkness in our eyes, in this particular matter light shines upon us, enough to know that nothing is swallowed up or hidden from His eyes, and that He watches over every detail. And regarding this it is proper that we marshal our case and argue, for in this there is light and clear knowledge:

And now, they did not see the rain At the conclusion of his words, Elihu returns to chide Job’s three companions for not finding an answer. He therefore says, “And now, these three companions of yours, who should have answered you all these things that I said to you... did not see the rain” They are like stillborn babies, who did not see wisdom. it is [like] bright [clouds] in the skies It is like many bright clouds that appear in the skies to bring down rain, but the wind comes and clears them away, makes them pass away, and no rain falls. That is their analogy; they began to answer you, but at the end, they remained silent and did not answer.

'And now men see not the light' — behold, they lack even the power to see the light when the clouds are in the skies; and 'bright' [bahir] refers to the sun — it is from the same root as 'bright spots' (baharot, Leviticus 13:39) — until a wind comes and clears the clouds.

'Bright' [bahir] — meaning: clear and radiant.

'And now' — as he comes to conclude his words, he says: and now I say, as a general rule: behold, at times people do not see the light of the sun, and this is when a cloud covers it, even though it is bright in its place in the skies and shines very brightly; but when a wind passes and clears the skies of the cloud, then they see it. And this is a terse verse, easily understood on its own.

Bright (bahir) - Giving light and radiant.

And now men see not the light which is bright in the skies; but the wind passes, and cleanses them – since the three companions ceased arguing about this particular point, as if here too there were darkness and a lack of knowledge, ‘men see not the light’ — for in truth there is light here, and they did not see it. This light (that is, this knowledge) ‘is bright in the skies’ — the light itself is bright in the skies, and also no cloud covers it from the seeing eye, for ‘the wind passes, and cleanses them’ — the skies have been cleansed of the clouds that cover the light. That is to say: this matter, that Hashem watches over His creatures, is a visible light, and the clouds of foolishness and the mists of the deniers' arguments do not cover it, for the clouds have already been swept away by the wind of Elihu's argument:

Gold[en splendor] comes from the north It is as though he is returning to his previous statements. [“And now, they did not see the rain.”] Another explanation: The homily of the Sages (Taanith 7b) is that when the sky is full of spots, [i.e., full] of many clouds, to cause rain to fall, a wind passes and cleanses them away, and no rain falls. This is a homily of the Sages, but it does not fit the sequence of the verses. Gold comes from the north The north wind blows and drives away the rain. Then the sun shines, like (Zech. 4:12), “that empty out the gold[en oil] from themselves.” on God From before Him. (Gold comes from the north The good gold is hidden for those who bring themselves to the commandments of the Holy One, blessed be He, and believe in the very awesome God.)

'Out of the north comes golden splendor' — 'gold' is explained as the brightness of the sky that resembles the hue of gold, for it is from the northern direction that the sky begins to clear. Some say that 'gold' refers to the wind, which is as clear as gold — but the first explanation is correct. 'About God is terrible majesty' — that the Omnipresent's majesty is seen when the sun comes out, and mankind praises Him and rejoices.

'Out of the north' — that is to say, if even the sun, which is visible to every eye when the sky is clear, becomes hidden as soon as a cloud covers it, then how could opinions and inquiries as refined as gold about God, etc., be brought forth from the hidden recesses of the heart? Is He not hidden at all times? How then could we ever know the workings of His governance? 'Terrible majesty' — people fear to declare His majesty, lest they diminish it; similarly it says, 'terrible in praises' (Exodus 15:11).

Out of the north (mitzafon) - An expression of that which is hidden and concealed [tzafun]; and he adopted a fitting figure of speech, since gold comes from the northern region. Golden (zahav) - He means to say, refined and pure as gold; and so, "that empty out the golden [oil] from themselves (hamerikim me'aleihem hazahav)" (Zechariah 4:12). Comes (ye'ateh) - [Meaning] it comes, as in "and He came from the holy myriads (ve'atah meriv'vot kodesh)" (Deuteronomy 33:2). Majesty (hod) - Its meaning is like "hadar" (splendor) and "pe'er" (glory).

Out of the north comes golden splendor – he explains what the light is: it becomes clear that ‘out of the north comes gold’ — and this is a wondrous figure of speech, meaning that precisely because Hashem's governance in matters of His providence, and of reward and punishment, is hidden and concealed, from there — from that very concealment — comes forth the precious, pure gold. That is to say, from this very fact the deep wisdom of Hashem is recognized, which no man can grasp until he seeks it out like gold buried and hidden in the north. ‘Out of the north comes’ — concerning God, who has ‘terrible majesty’: because His governance is hidden and is not grasped, precisely through this there is room for free choice and for reward and punishment, and precisely through this the majesty of Hashem is made manifest — and the majesty of God is very awesome, for no man grasps the depth of His wisdom, and this is His glory and His splendor and the honor of Hashem:

We have not found the Almighty great in power to arouse His judgments upon the creatures with the greatness of His power, but with clemency. He makes atonements for the creatures with small things, according to their ability: a handful of [fine flour from] a meal offering, a half shekel, turtle doves and young pigeons, cattle and flocks; and He did not burden them to seek a wild ox or an antelope. and with judgment Sufferings. He does not afflict the creatures excessively. Likewise, He does nor afflict them to [force them into] becoming overly righteous to an impossible extent, but each man according to his ability.

'The Almighty, whom we cannot find out' — yet we know from His works that He is great in power and great in justice. 'Yet ... plenteous justice He does no violence' — not from His own [will], but rather owing to the deficiency of the recipient — as I noted briefly at the beginning of my commentary on Ecclesiastes.

'The Almighty, whom we cannot find out,' etc. — The meaning is: the Almighty, whom we cannot find and cannot grasp, is exceedingly great in power, exceedingly great in judgment, and exceedingly great in doing abundant righteousness; and He does not do evil or afflict people — as it is said, 'for He does not afflict from His heart' (Lamentations 3:33). 'Regard' — meaning: He takes heed of; or the sense may be: He shows honor to, is partial toward, and flatters. Explanation of the words of the response: After Elihu had answered with three responses — matching in number the responses that Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar gave to Job, or matching the number of times Job said his friends had failed to answer him even once — and seeing that Job was not answering him, Elihu went on to reply further to Job's words and his claims, and said: wait for me a little, and I will tell you the truth, for I still have words and claims to make on Hashem's behalf, to show that He watches over the individual human beings who cling to Him. 'I will fetch my knowledge from afar, and ascribe righteousness to my Maker' — and indeed he says this because the premises from which he will demonstrate this thesis are drawn from far afield, as will become clear; yet that his words are not false will become evident from what you yourself concede. For you concede that Hashem is 'perfect in knowledge' — meaning that He knows the governing order of existing things and their arrangement in full perfection, since He is the one who makes them. Given this, it will become clear that Hashem does not despise man to the point of not watching over him out of contempt for him, as you yourself said: 'What is man, that You should magnify him, and that You should set Your heart upon him?' (Job 7:17). For Hashem possesses knowledge in abundance, and man possesses, in the power of his intellect, [a capacity for] knowledge, since he has the power to attain this order that governs existing things; and it is therefore clear, in this respect, that man bears some relation to Hashem — particularly when he actually exercises this power and brings it into actuality. Given this, it is not fitting that Hashem should despise him. Yet this premise is a remote one, for 'knowledge' is predicated of Hashem and of us only by a shared name — that is, prior with respect to Him and posterior with respect to us. And from this it is clear that Hashem does not act to give life to the wicked — neither spiritual life nor physical life. That He will not grant them spiritual life is clear, since it is impossible for the flourishing of the soul to reach the wicked; and He will likewise not grant them physical life, for there is nothing in the wicked person that would make him deserving of divine providence. 'And He renders judgment for the poor who are oppressed' in this manner: since the wicked are abandoned to mere chance occurrences, it may be that their calamity comes upon them and they are not saved from it; or perhaps 'the poor' here means the righteous and the humble, for many such usages of the term are found in the book of Psalms, and the sense would then be that Hashem grants the righteous the justice that is properly theirs, by watching over them in all their affairs. 'He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous,' but watches over them and saves them from the evils that stand ready to befall them, and 'He seats them with kings' upon the throne of permanence and eternity — meaning that He gives them a place among the angels, where they endure forever and their rank is raised very high. And if it happens that good people are bound in fetters and chains of iron, or are caught in the cords of poverty and want, this comes from Hashem in order to tell them that their conduct is not upright, and that their offenses will grow worse should they persist in that conduct and become further entangled in it. In this way He 'opens their ear to correction,' for through this they are disciplined away from the evil path they had begun to tread. And Hashem says that it is for this reason that 'He commands that they turn back from iniquity.' If they heed the commandments of Hashem and serve Him, 'they spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasantness' — meaning that no harm at all befalls them, for by their cleaving to Hashem, His providence rests upon them and guards them from all harm. But if they do not heed, and persist in the evil path they had begun to tread, this evil comes upon them: 'they perish by the sword' when the day of their calamity arrives, 'and die without knowledge' — meaning that they have no persistence of the soul [after death], and this is their true punishment. As for the wicked, who are not content merely to refuse the call to turn from their evil way, but even 'harbor anger toward God,' saying that whatever has befallen them came from His wrath and displeasure and not on account of their own deeds, and who therefore 'do not cry out' or pray to Him 'when He binds them' — 'their soul dies in youth, and their life' expires 'while they are young.' And indeed this is said in keeping with the verse, 'but he who hardens his heart shall fall into evil' (Proverbs 28:14), for one whose character is marked by such hardness of heart is more prone to misfortunes and mishaps than fearful people are, as though this very trait hastens his end. Hashem, then, saves the afflicted person from many evils by means of the very affliction He has brought upon him, and 'He opens the ear' of the oppressed by means of the very oppression that presses them to return to Hashem, that He may show them mercy. Indeed He would have drawn even you, by means of this suffering He brought upon you, 'out of distress into a broad place' where no straits remain, and He would have made whatever rests on your table — the cloth, or the vessels — 'full of richness,' on account of the abundance of your wealth and prosperity, had you turned back to Hashem and served Him with all your strength. But instead, 'you are full of the judgment of the wicked' — that is, the very judgment and justice that human individuals rely upon and are sustained by, meaning the judgment and justice that comes from Hashem to human individuals in the manner described, by which the world's existence is upheld — this very judgment you fill with the judgment of the wicked, by attributing injustice to Hashem in these matters. And this is the height of disgrace: that your folly should bring you to treat the very judgment and justice on which the people of the world rely, and by which they are sustained, as though it were a wicked and unjust judgment; and in this you would stand at the level of the wicked, who 'harbor anger and do not cry out when He binds them.' 'For beware, lest wrath entice you' — the wrath of Hashem — and consume you 'with extraordinary blows,' such that no great ransom would save you from it; your wealth would not suffice as a ransom for such a blow — neither gold nor all the strength and resources you possess would save you. 'Do not long for the night' — that is, do not occupy yourself, in the free hours of your heart upon your bed, with matters concerning the evils that befall human beings, such as the cutting-off of whole peoples in their place. 'Take heed, do not turn to' whatever implies injustice on Hashem's part, for it was on account of just this view that you chose, out of the poverty of your understanding and your folly — meaning that you went about seeking evidence from experience that injustice is present in the misfortunes of human beings. It is as if he said: do not fix your gaze on these matters that would lead you to think that Hashem does injustice in these evils that befall human beings, lest He entice you and consume you in His wrath with cruel blows from which neither your wealth nor your might could save you. How can you say that these evils reflect a flaw in the [divine] ordering? Behold, 'Hashem sets man on high by His power,' to save him from these evils that stand ready to befall him; and 'who is like Him,' a teacher who guides man in the straight path by which he is saved from the evils ready to befall him — provided the person is such that this providence can reach him. And when this is not so, the deficiency does not originate on Hashem's side, but on the side of the recipient. 'Who has appointed Him His way,' that he might examine His conduct and manner of action, so as to say to Him in this matter, 'You have done wrong'? Is He not over all, and are not all things created by His power? For this reason we ought to keep far from attributing injustice to Him, for we cannot examine His way or grasp it well enough to set ourselves up as judges qualified to rule that He has already done some injustice, since His wisdom is exceedingly exalted beyond our grasp; rather, whatever appears to us as though He had done some injustice, we ought to attribute to our own deficiency and ignorance. 'Remember to magnify His work,' and to extol it — in light of what men have grasped of the wonders of His deeds among the natural beings, which every person witnesses in these lowly, earthly things, arrived at through familiar, specifically-suited premises; and in light of what man has observed from afar concerning the heavenly bodies, arrived at through premises drawn from far afield — for through these matters one attains some measure, without end, of the greatness of Hashem's wisdom and its rightness. And if His work is such, then it is clear that Hashem is exceedingly great and wondrous in His existence, and we cannot know the measure of His rank; and He is eternal, has never ceased, and will never cease to be — while man came into being only yesterday. How, then, could man find fault with Hashem, who has never ceased to be, and how could a human being attribute a fault to a Being who stands at the utmost degree of excellence and honor, so exalted that His rank cannot be grasped at all? Now Elihu began to relate the wonders of Hashem, and said that it can happen, through the strength of Hashem's providence and His wonders, that at a time of extreme drought, when Hashem withholds and holds back the drops of water, vapors then rise up in these very dry places, from which rain then pours down in such abundance that it drips down upon many people — and this is a wonder in the extreme. Does man understand how the balancings of the clouds come to differ so greatly, one from another, and the manner of their formation, and the massing of the clouds and their thunder, such that from some of them rain falls gently, and from others rain falls in a downpour, and from some come thunderclaps and lightning, and from some snow, and from some ice, and from some wind, and from some nothing at all, but they simply scatter and pass away? Behold, Hashem spreads out His light and its spark in order to raise up the vapors, and then the vapor covers over the depths of the sea; and this is wondrous, since the vapors all arise from a single agency — the sun's ray, say — and, for the most part, from a single matter, namely the water of the sea; how then does it happen that the vapors come to differ from one another to such a degree? Indeed, Hashem ordered it in this fashion because, by means of the clouds, He at times judges the nations and disciplines them with the evils that come to them through the clouds, and at other times gives food in abundance by their means; and he first describes the vapor from which thunderclaps and lightning form, on account of the wonder present in the matter. He says of the clouds that they 'cover the light' — that is, the light of the vaporous exhalation, which is a light in near-potentiality, since it kindles easily from only a slight cause, as is explained in the Book of Meteorology, and it is dispersed among the clouds. And Hashem 'gives it charge' — that is, He causes its particles to strike against one another and to cling together — and this comes about through the cold present within it, confined inside it, since the hot particles flee from their opposite and gather together in the depths of the cloud, as is explained in the Book of Meteorology. When the cold vapor, its companion, has told upon it what it has told — meaning that it has thickened the face of the cloud and confined the vaporous exhalation within it so that it cannot rise and escape — then, as it were, 'wrath' and 'anger' are acquired against the rising vapor, as its particles gather together, and it bursts through the cloud, escapes, and bursts into flame the moment it leaves the cloud; and this is the 'wrath,' by way of figure. 'At this too my heart trembles, and leaps out of its place.' 'Hear attentively' the strength of His voice, and the sound that issues from His mouth — meaning the thunder, which is so wondrous and powerful that it travels straight and is heard 'under the whole heaven.' 'And His light' — the lightning — 'moves and descends to the corners of the earth,' and this too is a wonder, since it is the nature of fire to move upward. 'And after it the sound roars, He thunders with the voice of His majesty, and He does not hold them back' — meaning: the peals that are heard shortly after the flashes of lightning, when His voice comes in this manner, will be heard, since the cause of both thunder and lightning is one and the same, as is stated in the Book of Meteorology. But the reason thunder is heard some time after the lightning is that, when the place of the lightning and thunder is near the horizon, the lightning is seen but the thunder is not heard, on account of its distance, since the motion [that carries sound] takes time to travel from the place of the strike that generates the sound to the sense of hearing, and this necessarily takes some span of time — so that it happens that when the place of the lightning and the thunder is close to the horizon, the lightning is seen but the thunder is not heard, on account of its distance, since the motion is spent before it reaches our senses. Therefore he says that when the sound of the thunder is heard, its hearing will not lag very much behind the sight of the lightning. 'God thunders wondrously with His voice' in this way; 'He does great things that we cannot comprehend.' At times snow comes forth from the vapor and falls to the earth; at times rain comes forth from it — meaning rain that does not fall with great force; and at times 'the rain of His mighty downpour' comes forth from it — meaning rain that falls with great force — 'and these have already been explained,' meaning that the causes of all this have already been set forth. It is also possible to say that the meaning of the phrase, 'and the rain, both of His showers,' etc., is that at times rain comes forth from it such that the rain falling from the parts of the cloud is of one kind, not varying from part to part; and at times 'the rain of His mighty downpour' comes forth from it, meaning that varying kinds of rain come forth from it, such that from some parts of the cloud comes coarse rain and from other parts fine rain, as often happens with the clouds from which hail descends. And the rain will be so forceful that it shuts every man in, so that he cannot go out; 'and all men [thereby] know His work' — meaning they recognize what they are doing and where they are. And the beasts, too, hide from the abundance of rain and remain in their dens. And at times 'the storm-wind comes out of its chamber' — meaning the powerful wind — and this occurs when the cold vapor clings to the hot vapor, the one seeking to descend and the other to rise, and from this the wind is generated, as stated in the Book of Meteorology. Now 'the place from which comes the flood' [refers to] that which is the cause of the flow and flooding that newly arises from the vapor — namely, the coldest part of the air, as explained in the Book of Meteorology; and from it, too, comes the chilling that occurs in some parts of this smoky vapor — and this smoky vapor together with that chilling is the cause of the wind, as explained in the Book of Meteorology. And this is a wonder: that one and the same cause should at times produce moisture and flooding, and at other times produce the coming-into-being of wind, which is a drying thing. 'By the breath of God ice is given,' from some of the vapors, 'and the breadth of the waters' from which the ice is made 'is congealed' into a solid, narrow mass — that is, the ice and the frost. Scripture calls it 'the breadth of the waters' because it forms from dew and descends spread out broadly, so that it does not fall in drops but rather like a moisture with which the air becomes damp. 'Also, with moisture He loads the thick cloud' merely for the sake of dispersal and scattering — meaning that nothing at all comes forth from it; rather, it disperses and 'scatters the cloud of His light.' He says 'the cloud of His light' because the clouds in which this most properly occurs are those thick with the vaporous exhalation, which is called 'light,' as noted above; for owing to its dryness, it happens to be scattered by a spark of the sun before rain can form from it. In general, this cloud is turned about, from its various causes, by Hashem's wondrous devisings, so that all these various things we have mentioned come from it; and the reason for this is so that they may accomplish whatever Hashem commands upon the face of the habitable earth — at times to cause harm, as when lightning kills people with fire that falls upon them, or when rain proves harmful; and at times for the sake of His land, to make grass sprout by necessity; and at times He brings it about 'for kindness' — meaning, for the sake of some extra good, even where it is not needed for vegetation. 'Give ear to this, Job; stand and consider the wondrous works of God.' Do you know the reason how Hashem decreed concerning the clouds, that these matters should be ordered from them in this manner? Do you know the cause by which the vaporous exhalation confined within its cloud comes to receive light and burst into flame? Can you know the workings of 'the balancings of the clouds,' which take on so many varied forms — the wonders of Hashem and His wisdom present within them? Do you know why 'your garments are warm, when the earth is still because of the south wind' — meaning: when the sun is not moving through the southern quarter, but its motion is instead through the northern constellations, for then the heat is present in the inhabited region? Now, knowing the cause of this heat, which occurs when the sun draws near the northern quarter, is a matter of such difficulty that it cannot escape the notice of anyone who has studied natural science; and we have already explained this in our commentaries on the divine science [metaphysics], and we completed the explanation of this cause in the fifth book of The Wars of Hashem. Can you, 'with Him, spread out the sky,' which is, in the extreme, so strong that its cohesion can never in any way be broken apart, and is 'as bright as a molten mirror' — meaning like glass, through which light passes? You, Job, who think to argue your case with God — teach us what we should say to Him, were we to argue with Him on this matter. Behold, we could never marshal words against Him, on account of our darkness and ignorance — just as someone who knows nothing of a given field of knowledge cannot argue with one expert in that field. How could we speak with Him? 'Shall it be told Him that I would speak' — that is, [Job wonders] should I speak, in a way that He would answer me, and the argument be brought to a conclusion between Him and me? 'Or should a man speak words of contention to God,' and argue with Him, seeing that he has been swallowed up and ruined by blows and torments, so that you now long to argue with Him? And this is as if he said: has any man ever been tested with such torments as to argue with God and be answered by Him, that you should now yearn for such an argument? He now returns to explain a further point concerning the vapors: that at certain times the cloud is so dense that the light — which is in itself bright and clear in the skies — cannot be seen; meaning, the reason the light is not visible is not that the star itself has grown dim, for it remains bright in the skies, but rather that the abundance of clouds causes the light, for all its brightness, not to be seen. And nevertheless, no rain results from these clouds; rather, the wind passes through, clears the clouds away, scatters them, or carries them off to another place, and it is by this means that the process of rainfall is, for the most part, brought to completion. And he mentions this because there is something remarkable in it, if we attribute this action to the winds alone, as we noted in the second response of this book. 'Out of the north comes gold' — meaning that from there come winds that scatter the vapors, purify the air, and refine it like gold; and all of this comes about through the action of Hashem, who is 'awesome in majesty.' It is also possible to say that the meaning here is that from the northern quarter — since that is where the inhabited world lies — there comes knowledge that is precious and honorable, like gold, concerning Hashem, who is 'awesome in majesty'; for there [in the inhabited north] are found the animals and plants whose formation displays such wondrous wisdom and power to bring into being, in each and every one of them, every instrument possible by which their existence is brought to completion, and to preserve them for as long a span of time as is possible — so that from this we may attain something precious and honorable concerning Hashem. And in general, it can be seen, from what He has created among these creatures, that the Almighty, whom we cannot find and whose rank we cannot grasp, is exceedingly great in power to render judgment and exceedingly great in power to do abundant righteousness and kindness — since He does not fall short in providing each and every one of these creatures with whatever it needs for its existence, nor does He fall short in providing each and every one of them with whatever is possible to provide in the best possible way. 'And He does not afflict' — meaning that He does not do evil, for we see Him striving with all His might, in these creatures, to bring goodness to them; and this is in keeping with the verse, 'for He does not afflict from His heart' (Lamentations 3:33). Or the sense of 'He does not afflict' may be that, out of the abundance of His power, He does not delay rendering judgment and abundant righteousness, but does so at once, as soon as the recipient is ready, without any delay. 'Therefore men fear Him' — meaning: He 'does not regard any who are wise of heart' — that is, He does not watch over all of them alike to save them from harm, but only when they cling to Him, and at the time of their cleaving to Him. Or the meaning of 'He does not regard any who are wise of heart' may be that He does not show them favor, nor honor them by flattering them; rather, as soon as evil is found in them, He disciplines them so that they might abandon that path, as explained above. The general principle that emerges from these words is that Elihu shows that man's being lowly and base in relation to Hashem does not prevent Him from watching over him; rather, he demonstrates that it is indeed fitting for Him to watch over man. And in demonstrating this, he lays down two premises. The first, though self-evident in itself, Job had already conceded: that Hashem is 'perfect in knowledge' — meaning that He knows all intelligible things — and Job had already conceded this premise when he said, 'With Him are wisdom and might' (Job 12:13). The second premise is one that anyone who understands the nature of the human intellect must concede: that man is 'great in strength of heart' — meaning that he possesses a great capacity for grasping intelligible things, to the point that he has, in some sense, the power to attain them all. Given this — that is, that Hashem possesses the intelligibles in actuality, while man possesses the intelligibles in potentiality — and since it is clear that what exists in actuality perfects what exists in potentiality and brings it forth into actuality insofar as this is possible; and since, in the case of intelligibles, the very transition into actuality is such that the agent and the recipient of the action become, in a certain sense, one — it is clear that man, in this way, attains a certain union and cleaving with Hashem. And whoever's way this is, it is clear that it is not fitting for Hashem to despise him; rather, it is fitting that a wondrous providence should attend him, on account of this union and cleaving. And since this union comes about through what the person has actually attained of the intelligibles, and not merely through the potential that belongs to him by virtue of his natural species, it is clear that providence over the intellectually-attaining person is fitting on the level of his individual, particular nature. Here, then, it has become clear that Hashem does not abandon human individuals out of contempt or lowliness, but rather watches over those among them who attain intellectual understanding. And since wickedness is among the things that prevent the attainment of the intelligibles, as Job himself noted earlier, it is clear that providence does not rest upon the wicked; rather, they become targets for the arrows of the evil occurrences that stand ready to befall them by virtue of the constellation, and the flourishing of the soul is withheld from them. This is the punishment that comes to them for their wickedness essentially — that is, the withholding from them of the soul's flourishing. The other punishment, however — namely, their being handed over to the evil occurrences ready to befall them — is incidental and secondary, [occurring] as though intended by Hashem so that palpable harm should come to the wicked through it, and other people be disciplined by their example and thereby escape their evil fate. And to these two kinds of punishment we have mentioned, Elihu alludes when he says, 'He will not preserve the life of the wicked' — meaning that Hashem does not act to grant him physical life, nor does He grant him spiritual life. Proof of this is that he has already mentioned, regarding the righteous, two corresponding kinds of measure that parallel these: the first is His providence over them, by which they are saved from the evil occurrences ready to befall them, as he says, 'He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous'; and the second is the flourishing of the soul, as he says, 'and kings He seats upon the throne; He seats them forever, and they are exalted.' Here, then, it has been made clear to Job that rightness prevails in these matters in which Job had thought injustice was to be found. And it should not escape him that this providence and safekeeping vary in accordance with the variation of the very thing on account of which the providence exists — meaning that the more a person cleaves to and unites with Hashem, the greater the providence over him will be; and this is self-evident to one who studies our words here. Now Elihu rebukes Job for not having examined his own deeds in light of the sufferings that came upon him, and for not having turned back to Hashem — for he holds that even if Job were righteous in this manner, it is still quite possible that Hashem brought these sufferings upon him as an act of providence, in order to turn him back from the slight rebellion he had begun to hold onto. For when the righteous begin to become entangled in some rebellion, Hashem brings evils upon them as an act of providence, as noted above; and it is as though, through this pain He causes them, He informs them that the conduct they have begun to adopt is evil, and thereby restrains them from it. For when evil comes upon them, they examine their deeds and consider in their hearts what this sin might have been; and if they accept this rebuke and return to Hashem, they will be watched over by Him and kept safe, so that they spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasantness. But if they do not accept the rebuke, they die without knowledge, for the deeds of the wicked, without doubt, prevent the attainment of the intelligibles. Given this, it is clear that had Job returned to Hashem, he would have been saved from these evils; and since the evils that befell Job were of this sort — namely, brought about as an act of providence to draw him away from the slight rebellion he had begun to become entangled in — Job complained and considered himself righteous, since the rebellion that had befallen him was slight and not even perceptible to him. After this, Elihu condemns Job for attributing injustice and wickedness to Hashem on account of this ordering He established, because of the evils that follow from it — meaning, from the ordering that comes by way of the heavenly bodies — since it is through this ordering that the judgment and justice which sustain and uphold the world are brought to completion. For it is only by this means that palpable harm can come upon the wicked for the wickedness and injustice they commit, since Hashem does not do evil essentially, as we explained in the introduction to this discussion; and it is as though the political order of the world is thereby maintained, through this evil that necessarily befalls this world. The righteous, however, need not fear these evils, so long as they strive to cleave to Hashem according to their strength. He said to Job, as a general statement, that Job ought to have grasped the work of Hashem from the wonders that men have come to perceive in His deeds, and that on this basis he ought to have judged that this order is at the utmost degree of perfection possible; and if some deficiency appears to be present in it, this is only according to our own limited thinking, and not in reality. For even the vapor — which is among the most rudimentary of the things that come into being — the wonders that Hashem performs with it cannot be fully comprehended; how much more so with man, who is the culmination of all things that come into being. In general, when we contemplate His creatures, it is fitting for us to judge that Hashem is exceedingly great in power, in judgment, and in abundant righteousness, and that evil does not come from Him as a primary intention.

'The Almighty, whom we cannot find out' — although we have not found God Almighty, that is to say, although we cannot grasp His essence and the workings of His attributes, nevertheless we do know that He is great in power, yet also in judgment and abundant righteousness; and He does not deal with a man according to His own will, but rather does to him only what is warranted by the recompense of his deeds.

Excellent (sagi) - [Meaning] great, as in "magnify His work (tasgi fo'olo)" (above, 36). Does ... violence (ye'aneh) - From the term "inuyim" (afflictions) and torments.

The Almighty, whom we cannot find out, is excellent in power – this very fact, that we have not found and grasped Shaddai — that is, His governance of His creatures and the way of His providence — this itself is the proof that Shaddai ‘is excellent in power,’ so that no man can comprehend His ways. ‘Yet to judgment and plenteous justice He does no violence’ — this very fact, that He does not answer and does not make known the way of His governance and His judgment, is itself the sign that His governance is full of judgment and justice. That is: sometimes He acts by way of judgment, which is meted out according to the deeds of men, and sometimes He acts by way of supreme charity, which does not look at the deed, and He performs kindness through His righteousness and compassion — and this governance is very abundant. And through all this He does not answer and does not make known His way, for it all rests on the scale of the supreme wisdom that is beyond human knowledge:

Therefore, men fear Him to debate with Him. (because) He does not look upon any wise of heart who want to deal wisely with Him, because their wisdom is as nothing in His eyes. Our Sages (Rosh Hashanah 17a) explained this as referring to Job. Elihu says to him, “Because you would impose excessive fear upon your generation, you did not merit having wise-hearted sons remain alive to you.”

'Men do therefore fear Him' — yet He is not perceived, even by the wise of heart, in the sense of 'behold, the nations are as a drop from a bucket' (Isaiah 40:15). Most of the commentators explain that '[He] regards' refers back to 'all who are wise of heart' [i.e., He shows them no special regard]; and the sense [of the verse as a whole] is: men fear Him, whether or not they perceive Him.

'Therefore' — because all His deeds are done in justice, therefore men fear Him, and do not defy His word; for 'He regards not any who are wise of heart' means that even those who are wise of heart carry no special weight before Him, and He does not show them favor so as to recognize their faces in judgment, as it is said, 'nor regards the rich more than the poor' (Job 34:19), for there is no favoritism before Him. (What emerges from these words is that the Omnipresent watches over creation even in its particulars, and separates the wicked from the good that comes into the world, and likewise separates the righteous from the evil that comes into the world. And when evil at times befalls a righteous man, it comes through providence, to open his ear to discipline, when he has strayed a little from the straight path; and this is His reply to Job: that his afflictions, too, came upon him in order to open his ear to discipline, so that he would return to Hashem and be saved from the judgment of Gehinnom, and delight richly in his own soul — for had he continued to dwell in tranquility, he would have rebelled against Hashem out of the abundance of everything, and would have been lost forever, like the generation of the Flood. He also rebukes him further, as to why he does not submit himself to the Omnipresent — is not everything in His hand, and is there anything comparable to Him? And He proves the truth of providence from the fact that He is the Creator of the eye — how then could He not see? He proves it further from His wonders that are known to us — how much more must there be in those that remain hidden. He also returns to Job, to say: do you not know something of the workings of nature — why then do you not know the rest of these matters? Rather, it must be that everything comes from Him through providence, and cannot be known by man; and therefore one must not call His deeds into question, for the understanding of man is too limited to grasp the deeds of Hashem and His governance.)

Men do therefore fear Him – and precisely because of this, men fear Him, in that ‘He regards not any who are wise of heart,’ for they are all as nothing before Him, and grasp nothing of His governance — like a drop from a bucket. And precisely because of the sublime wisdom hidden within His providence, there is room for free choice and for reward and punishment, and there is room for the fear of His majesty, for this is the proof of the greatness of His goodness and the abundance of His understanding — so that no argument can be made from the fact that He has concealed the way of His governance from mankind, for there is a hidden wisdom in this, and this itself is the proof of the greatness of His wisdom, His greatness, and His power: