39 Or “decree.”
40 Or “thunderbolt,” i.e., lightning. Heb “the roaring of voices/sounds,” which describes the nature of the storm.
41 Heb “it”; the referent (wisdom) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
42 The verb סָפַר (safar) in the Piel basically means “to tell; to declare; to show” or “to count; to number.” Many commentators offer different suggestions for the translation. “Declared” (as in the , , and ) would be the simplest—but to whom did God declare it? Besides “appraised” which is the view of Pope, Dhorme and others (cf. , ), J. Reider has suggested “probed” (“Etymological studies in biblical Hebrew,” 2 [1952]: 127), Strahan has “studied,” and Kissane has “reckoned.” The difficulty is that the line has a series of verbs, which seem to build to a climax; but without more details it is hard to know how to translate them when they have such a range of meaning.
43 The verb כּוּן (kun) means “to establish; to prepare” in this stem. There are several that have the form from בִּין (bin, “discern”), giving “he discerned it,” making more of a parallel with the first colon. But the weight of the evidence supports the traditional reading.
44 The verb חָקַר (khaqar) means “to examine; to search out.” Some of the language used here is anthropomorphic, for the sovereign Lord did not have to research or investigate wisdom. The point is that it is as if he did this human activity, meaning that as in the results of such a search God knows everything about wisdom.
45 A number of medieval Hebrew manuscripts have YHWH (“Lord”); has אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “Lord”). As J. E. Hartley (Job [], ) points out, this is the only occurrence of אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “Lord”) in the book of Job, creating doubt for retaining it. Normally, YHWH is avoided in the book. “Fear of” (יִרְאַת, yir’at) is followed by שַׁדַּי (shadday, “Almighty”) in 6:14—the only other occurrence of this term for “fear” in construct with a divine title.
46 Many commentators delete this verse because (1) many read the divine name Yahweh (translated “Lord”) here, and (2) it is not consistent with the argument that precedes it. But as H. H. Rowley (Job [], 185) points out, there is inconsistency in this reasoning, for many of the critics have already said that this chapter is an interpolation. Following that line of thought, then, one would not expect it to conform to the rest of the book in this matter of the divine name. And concerning the second difficulty, the point of this chapter is that wisdom is beyond human comprehension and control. It belongs to God alone. So the conclusion that the fear of the Lord is wisdom is the necessary conclusion. Rowley concludes: “It is a pity to rob the poem of its climax and turn it into the expression of unrelieved agnosticism.”

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

when he made a decree for the rain

and a way for the lightning of the thunder,

then he saw it and declared it;

he established it, and searched it out.

And he said to man,

‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,

and to turn away from evil is understanding.’ ”

NIVNew International Version (2011)

when he made a decree for the rain

and a path for the thunderstorm,

then he looked at wisdom and appraised it;

he confirmed it and tested it.

And he said to the human race,

“The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,

and to shun evil is understanding.”

CSBChristian Standard Bible

when he established a limit for the rain

and a path for the lightning,

he considered wisdom and evaluated it;

he established it and examined it.

He said to mankind,

“The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom.

And to turn from evil is understanding.”

NLTNew Living Translation

He made the laws for the rain

and laid out a path for the lightning.

Then he saw wisdom and evaluated it.

He set it in place and examined it thoroughly.

And this is what he says to all humanity:

‘The fear of the Lord is true wisdom;

to forsake evil is real understanding.’ ”

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

when he made a rule for the rain

and a way for the thunder’s lightning bolt,

then he saw it and talked about it;

he established it, and moreover, he explored it.

And to the human beings he said,

‘Look, the fear of the Lord is wisdom,

and to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”

KJV 1900King James Version

When he made a decree for the rain,

And a way for the lightning of the thunder:

Then did he see it, and declare it;

He prepared it, yea, and searched it out.

And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;

And to depart from evil is understanding.

Public Domain