Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Job 37:24 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 24. 24Men do therefore fear him: he respecteth not any that are wise of heart.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Job 37:24 closes the thought unit with the words “Men do therefore fear him: he respecteth not any that are wise of heart.” Elihu states “Men do therefore fear him” as one poetic claim in Elihu Closes with Hidden Brightness and Terrible Majesty.
Read It With
- Job 37:21–37:24
Read Job 37:24 with 37:21–37:24. Read alone, “Men do therefore fear him: he respecteth not any that are wise of heart” could lose its speaker, the question or claim it develops, and the unit's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Elihu pictures bright light hidden and cleared by wind, northern splendor, unsearchable power and justice, and human fear before God.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Elihu continues from Job 37:14–37:20: Elihu tells Job to stand and consider, asks about clouds, light, heat, and the firm sky, then admits human difficulty ordering speech before God. Job 37:21–37:24 now develops the next distinct movement: Elihu pictures bright light hidden and cleared by wind, northern splendor, unsearchable power and justice, and human fear before God. Within that relationship, Job 37:24 closes the thought unit through “Men do therefore fear him: he respecteth not any that are wise of heart.”
Read Job 37:21–24 together
Why these verses belong together: Job 37:21–37:24 follows the pinned KJV paragraphing and holds together one sustained speech movement: “Elihu Closes with Hidden Brightness and Terrible Majesty.” The next unit begins with a new stanza, question sequence, scene, speaker response, or rhetorical turn.
Verse 21. 21 And now men see not the bright light which is in the clouds: but the wind passeth, and cleanseth them.
Verse 22. 22 Fair weather cometh out of the north: with God is terrible majesty.
Verse 23. 23 Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict.
Verse 24. 24 Men do therefore fear him: he respecteth not any that are wise of heart.
What Remains True
Elihu pictures bright light hidden and cleared by wind, northern splendor, unsearchable power and justice, and human fear before God. Responsible wisdom states material textual, translation, structural, or attribution alternatives openly before building doctrine or practice. Job 37:24 carries that bounded truth through “Men do therefore fear him: he respecteth not any that are wise of heart.”
How It Can Shape Life
- Before teaching Job 37:21–37:24, show the exact KJV wording, identify the material Hebrew, Greek, translation, structure, or attribution question, and label the preferred reading as a judgment rather than certainty. Preserve this unit-specific boundary in the action: The claim that God 'will not afflict' is textually difficult and sits beside Job's experience; it cannot be used to deny pain or settle causation. The verse-specific evidence to retain is “Men do therefore fear him: he respecteth not any that are wise of heart.”
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Job 37:21–37:24 — Elihu Closes with Hidden Brightness and Terrible MajestySources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Job 37:21–37:24, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Job
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 37:21–37:24
Open the fixed Hebrew Job file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Job
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006; current official PDF
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 37:21–37:24.
Exact location: Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 37:21–37:24
Open the official NET Job PDF ↗