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Job 37 · a question people ask

Is Elihu saying that every storm is a punishment?

In the text

Read what he says: "whether it is for correction, or for his land, or for loving kindness, that he causes it to come" (37:13). He names three purposes, not one. In Hebrew correction is shevet, which Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "rod, staff, club, sceptre"; it is the rod of Job's "Let him take his rod away from me" (9:34) and "neither is the rod of God upon them" (21:9) (tap correction). Loving kindness is chesed, Job's own word in "You have granted me life and loving kindness" (10:12) (tap loving kindness). The verse doesn't say which purpose any one storm serves, or how anyone could tell. These are Elihu's words, and these notes don't add to them.

The verses

“whether it is for correction, or for his land, or for loving kindness, that he causes it to come.”
Job 37:13 · World English Bible
“Let him take his rod away from me. Let his terror not make me afraid;”
Job 9:34 · World English Bible
“Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.”
Job 21:9 · World English Bible
“You have granted me life and loving kindness. Your visitation has preserved my spirit.”
Job 10:12 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Job 37

Job 37: Stand still, and consider

Elihu names three purposes for what God sends, not one: "whether it is for correction, or for his land, or for loving kindness" (37:13). And his storm (37:9) isn't the whirlwind of 38:1: the Hebrew has two different words.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions