The end of the first section of the whirlwind speech in Job 38.37b–38 reads, ‘who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens, when the dust runs into a mass and the clods stick fast together?’ (ESV). The straightforward explanation, that this refers to rainfall, cannot explain the verses in the larger context of the chapter. This article carefully reviews the words used in v. 38, in particular עפר‎ ‘dust’ and יצק‎ ‘to pour’ (here ‘to run’), and points to a parallel for דבק‎ ‘stick together’ in Job 41.15. This newly collected evidence reinforces the hypothesis of Van Wolde, that the stanza is a reference to the creation of the earth. With the suggested interpretation, the poetic structure of chapter 38 is more coherent. However, for this to work, one must either swap vv. 36 and 37 or reorder 36–38 into two tricola instead of three bicola.

中文翻译：

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“尘埃落下”：约伯记 38.36-38 中的创造

约伯记 38.37b-38 中旋风演讲第一部分的结尾写道：“当尘土成团，土块紧紧粘在一起时，谁能倾斜天上的水袋？” (ESV)。直截了当的解释，即这是指降雨，无法在本章的更大背景下解释这些经文。这篇文章仔细回顾了第 38 节中使用的词，特别是 עפר “尘土”和 יצק “倾倒”（这里是“奔跑”），并指出了约伯记 41.15 中 דבק “粘在一起”的相似之处。这个新收集的证据加强了范沃尔德的假设，即该节是对地球创造的参考。根据建议的解释，第 38 章的诗歌结构更加连贯。但是，要使其正常工作，必须要么交换 vv。36 和 37 或将 36-38 重新排序为两个 tricola 而不是三个 bicola。