Lectionary Calendar
Monday, April 28th, 2025
the Second Week after Easter
Attention!
Tired of seeing ads while studying? Now you can enjoy an "Ads Free" version of the site for as little as 10¢ a day and support a great cause!
Click here to learn more!

Read the Bible

New King James Version

Job 26:8

He binds up the water in His thick clouds, Yet the clouds are not broken under it.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - God;   Meteorology and Celestial Phenomena;   Science;   Thompson Chain Reference - Clouds;   Mercy;   Meteorology;   The Topic Concordance - God;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Clouds;   Water;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Cloud, Cloud of the Lord;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Omnipotence of God;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Providence;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Cloud;   Creation;   Firmament;   Job, the Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Cloud;   Job;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Bind;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Cloud;   Job, Book of;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Cloud;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
He wraps up the water in his clouds,yet the clouds do not burst beneath its weight.
Hebrew Names Version
He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, And the cloud is not burst under them.
King James Version
He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.
English Standard Version
He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not split open under them.
New Century Version
He wraps up the waters in his thick clouds, but the clouds do not break under their weight.
New English Translation
He locks the waters in his clouds, and the clouds do not burst with the weight of them.
Amplified Bible
"He wraps the waters in His clouds [which otherwise would spill on earth all at once], And the cloud does not burst under them.
New American Standard Bible
"He wraps up the waters in His clouds, And the cloud does not burst under them.
World English Bible
He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, And the cloud is not burst under them.
Geneva Bible (1587)
He bindeth the waters in his cloudes, and the cloude is not broken vnder them.
Legacy Standard Bible
He wraps up the waters in His clouds,And the cloud does not break out under them.
Berean Standard Bible
He wraps up the waters in His clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their own weight.
Contemporary English Version
God stores water in clouds, but they don't burst,
Complete Jewish Bible
He binds up the water in his thick clouds, yet no cloud is torn apart by it.
Darby Translation
He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not rent under them.
Easy-to-Read Version
He fills the thick clouds with water. But he does not let its heavy weight break the clouds open.
George Lamsa Translation
He binds up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.
Good News Translation
It is God who fills the clouds with water and keeps them from bursting with the weight.
Lexham English Bible
He ties up the water in its clouds, and the cloud is not torn open beneath it.
Literal Translation
He binds up the waters in His thick clouds; and the cloud does not burst under them.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
He byndeth ye water in his cloudes, that they fall not downe together.
American Standard Version
He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; And the cloud is not rent under them.
Bible in Basic English
By him the waters are shut up in his thick clouds, and the cloud does not give way under them.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
He bindeth up the waters in His thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.
King James Version (1611)
Hee bindeth vp the waters in his thicke clouds, and the cloud is not rent vnder them.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
He byndeth the water in his cloudes, & the cloude is not broken vnder them.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
binding water in his clouds, and the cloud is not rent under it.
English Revised Version
He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
`Which God byndith watris in her cloudis, that tho breke not out togidere dounward.
Update Bible Version
He binds up the waters in his thick clouds; And the cloud is not rent under them.
Webster's Bible Translation
He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.
New Living Translation
He wraps the rain in his thick clouds, and the clouds don't burst with the weight.
New Life Bible
He holds the waters in His clouds, and the cloud does not break under them.
New Revised Standard
He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not torn open by them.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Who bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not rent beneath them;
Douay-Rheims Bible
He bindeth up the waters in his clouds, so that they break not out and fall down together.
Revised Standard Version
He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not rent under them.
Young's Literal Translation
Binding up the waters in His thick clouds, And the cloud is not rent under them.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"He wraps up the waters in His clouds, And the cloud does not burst under them.

Contextual Overview

5 "The dead tremble, Those under the waters and those inhabiting them. 6 Sheol is naked before Him, And Destruction has no covering. 7 He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing. 8 He binds up the water in His thick clouds, Yet the clouds are not broken under it. 9 He covers the face of His throne, And spreads His cloud over it. 10 He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters, At the boundary of light and darkness. 11 The pillars of heaven tremble, And are astonished at His rebuke. 12 He stirs up the sea with His power, And by His understanding He breaks up the storm. 13 By His Spirit He adorned the heavens; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. 14 Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, And how small a whisper we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

bindeth up: Job 36:29, Job 38:9, Job 38:37, Genesis 1:6, Genesis 1:7, Psalms 135:7, Proverbs 30:4, Jeremiah 10:13

thick clouds: Job 37:11-16, Psalms 18:10, Psalms 18:11

and the cloud: Isaiah 5:6

Reciprocal: Job 28:11 - bindeth Job 37:16 - the balancings Psalms 147:8 - covereth

Cross-References

Genesis 26:18
And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them.
Genesis 26:19
Also Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found a well of running water there.
Judges 5:28
"The mother of Sisera looked through the window, And cried out through the lattice, "Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarries the clatter of his chariots?'
Proverbs 7:6
For at the window of my house I looked through my lattice,
Ecclesiastes 9:9
Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun.
Song of Solomon 2:9
My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he stands behind our wall; He is looking through the windows, Gazing through the lattice.
Isaiah 62:5
For as a young man marries a virgin, So shall your sons marry you; And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So shall your God rejoice over you.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds,.... The clouds are of his making; when he utters his voice, or gives the word of command, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and the vapours he exhales from the ends of the earth and forms them into clouds, and they are his chariots, in which he rides up and down in the heavens, and waters his gardens and plantations on earth; see Jeremiah 10:13; which may be said to be thick in comparison of the air, in which they are; otherwise they are but thin, and the thinner they are, the greater wonder it is that the waters, and such a heavy body of them, should be bound up in them, as there often is; and which is bound up, held, and retained therein, as anything bound up in a sack or bag, or in a garment, or the skirt of a man's coat; see Proverbs 30:4; and what is still more marvellous:

and the cloud is not rent under them; under the waters, and through the weight of them; which, if it was, would fall in vast water spouts, and were such to fall upon the earth, as it may be supposed they did at the general deluge, they would destroy man and beast, and wash off and wash away the things of the earth: but God has so ordered it in his infinite wisdom, and by his almighty power, that clouds should not be thus rent, but fall in small drops and gentle showers, as if they passed through a sieve or colander, whereby the earth is refreshed, and made fruitful; see Job 36:26.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds - That is, he seems to do it, or to collect the waters in the clouds, as in bottles or vessels. The clouds appear to hold the waters, as if bound up, until he is pleased to send them drop by drop upon the earth.

And the cloud is not rent under them - The wonder which Job here expresses is, that so large a quantity of water as is poured down from the clouds, should be held suspended in the air without seeming to rend the cloud, and falling all at once. His image is that of a bottle, or vessel, filled with water, suspended in the air, and which is not rent. What were the views which he had of the clouds, of course it is impossible now to say. If he regarded them as they are, as vapors, or if he considered them to be a more solid substance, capable of holding water, there was equal ground for wonder. In the former case, his amazement would have arisen from the fact, that so light, fragile, and evanescent a substance as vapor should contain so large a quantity of water; in the latter case, his wonder would have been that such a substance should distil its contents drop by drop. There is equal reason for admiring the wisdom of God in the production of rain, now that the cause is understood. The clouds are collections of vapors. They contain moisture, or vapor, which ascends from the earth, and which is held in suspension when in small particles in the clouds; as, when a room is swept, the small particles of dust will be seen to float in the room. When these small particles are attracted, and form masses as large as drops, the air will no longer sustain them, and they fall to the earth. Man never could have devised a way for causing rain; and the mode in which it is provided that large quantities of water shall be borne from one place to another in the air, and made to fall when it is needed, by which the vapors that ascend from the ocean shall not be suffered to fall again into the ocean, but shall be carried on to the land, is adapted to excite our admiration of the wisdom of God now, no less than it was in the time of Job.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 26:8. He bindeth up the waters — Drives the aqueous particles together, which were raised by evaporation, so that, being condensed, they form clouds which float in the atmosphere, till, meeting with strong currents of wind, or by the agency of the electric fluid, they are farther condensed; and then, becoming too heavy to be sustained in the air, fall down in the form of rain, when, in this poetic language, the cloud is rent under them.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile