Job 37:17

“How thy garments [are] warm, when he quieteth the earth by the south [wind]?] One should think there is no great difficulty in accounting for this, that a man’s clothes should be warm, and he so hot as not to be able to bear them, but obliged to put them off in the summer season, when only the south wind blows, which brings heat, a serene sky, and fine weather, (<421255>Luke 12:55); and yet there is something in the concourse of divine Providence attending these natural causes, and his blessing with them, without which the garment of a man will not be warm, or at least not warming to him, (<370106>Haggai 1:6); or “how thy garments are warm when the land is still from the south,” as Mr.…”

“thy garments, &c.--that is, dost thou know how thy body grows warm, so as to affect thy garments with heat? south wind--literally, "region of the south." "When He maketh still (and sultry) the earth (that is, the atmosphere) by (during) the south wind" (Sol 4:16).”

“How thy garments are warm - What is the reason that the garments which we wear produce warmth? This, it would seem, was one of the philosophical questions which were asked at that time, and which it was difficult to explain. Perhaps it has never occurred to most persons to ask this apparently simple question, and if the inquiry were proposed to them, plain as it seems to be, they would find it as difficult to give an answer as Elihu supposed it would be for Job. Of the fact here referred to that the garments became oppressive when a sultry wind came from the south, there could be no dispute. But what was the precise difficulty in explaining the fact, is not so clear. Some suppose that Elihu…”

“Quieteth - The air about the earth. From the south - By the sun's coming into the southern parts, which makes the air quiet and warm. Job 37:18”

“37:17 The hot south wind caused the sweltering conditions.”

“he: Job 6:17, Job 38:31; Psa 147:18; Luk 12:55 Job 37:18”

“17 Thou whose garments became hot, When the land is sultry from the south: 18 Dost thou with Him spread out the sky, The strong, as it were molten, mirror? 19 Let us know what we shall say to Him! - We can arrange nothing by reason of darkness. 20 Shall it be told Him that I speak, Or shall one wish to be destroyed? Most expositors connect Job 37:17 with Job 37:16 : (Dost thou know) how it comes to pass that ... ; but אשׁר after ידע signifies quod, Exo 11:7, not quomodo, as it sometimes occurs in a comparing antecedent clause, instead of כאשׁר, Exo 14:13; Jer 33:22. We therefore translate: thou whose ... , - connecting this, however, not with Job 37:16 (vid., e.g., Carey), but as Bolduc. and…”