from the tempest Heb. מן הסערה. Count your hairs and I will give you as many answers. From the tempest with which you reproached Me (above 9:17), “He Who would crush me with a tempest,” I will answer you, as you will hear at the end of the chapter (verse 25), “Who has separated a place for the hair?” a shaft for every hair. Another explanation: With a tempest He afflicted him, and with a tempest He healed him, as is explained in Sifrei(?).

who gives dark counsel Dark and foolish counsel. Another explanation: Who is this who gives dark counsel...without knowledge? Said the Holy One, blessed be He: Who is this who darkens counsel, frustrates words, i.e., with a multiplicity of words; for I wrote: “and that man was sincere and upright,” at the beginning of the Book, in order that My name should rest on Him, but he came and darkened and frustrated what I counseled with his many words. Whereupon Job replies to Him (below 42:3): “Who is this Who hides counsel?” Had I known Your counsel, I would not have spoken so much. Then the Holy One blessed be He, answers him, “Neither did Abraham know; yet he passed ten” [tests]. So I found.

Now gird your loins like a man He intimated to him that he should arouse himself from his illness and his sufferings.

Where Heb. אֵי פֹה, lit. where here.

its measures Heb. מְמַדֶיהָ [like] מִדוֹתֶיהָ.

laid its cornerstone in the middle of the sea, whence the entire world was founded. Where were you?

When...sing together from the beginning the stars of light.

the sea with doors The sand, which is its boundary.

when it broke forth Heb. בגיחו, when it broke forth from the deep, like (Ps. 22:10), “that You drew me (גחי) forth from the womb”; drew me forth.

When I made the cloud around the ocean, which encompasses the world, and clouds encompass it like raiment.

its wrapping Heb. חתלתו, its wrapping, like (Ezek. 16:4), “nor were you swaddled (והחתל לא חתלת).”

and broke I made breaks in it [the sea] all around to keep it back within them, and they are its boundary, which it shall not pass, as in (Joshua 7:5), “and they pursued them until the quarries (השברים)” which are the ditches around the city.

In [all] your days From the day you were born.

To grasp the corners of the earth Moreover, in all your days, did you command [anyone] to grasp the corners of the earth like a man who grasps the corners of a garment and shakes it? So am I destined to grasp it [the earth] by its corners and shake the wicked [out of it]. Likewise, Scripture states (Isa. 31:3): “and the Lord shall turn His hand, and the helper shall stumble,” like a person who, holding something in his hand, drops it by inclining his hand.

changes in formation.

The seal...like clay The cast of man’s countenance [changes] when he dies, and at the resurrection of the dead they will live again, and they will stand up in their clothing.

And...shall be withheld then from the wicked their light, and the high arm shall be broken.

the locks of the sea Heb. נבכי, like (Ex. 14:3), “They are trapped (נבכים) in the land.”

the gates of death This is Gehinnom.

You knew all this.

for then you were born when I created (them).

That I saved I withheld.

for a time of trouble For the five kings in Gibeon.

for a day of battle The war of Gog and Magog.

is the light parted The irradiation of the sun, which diverges this way and that way like the horns of a hind.

the eastern one The sun of the east.

Who has separated a place for the hair Heb. לטשף. In Arabia, a hair is called שִׁיטְפָא. To every hair on the head I have given תְעָלָה, a separate shaft from which to draw sap. If two would draw from the same shaft, a person’s eyesight would fail. These have not been changed by Me, how then should I change אִיוֹב, Job, for אוֹיֵב, enemy? And this is the meaning of מן הסערה, from the hair. Another explanation: לַשֶטֶף a streaming raindrop. I set apart for each drop a hole in the clouds, for if they were to come down [together] from one opening, they would soften the earth and turn it into a mire.

and a way for the cloud of the thunderclaps who parted? Every thunderclap has its own path, and if two of them would go along one path, the creatures would not be able to bear the sound.

darkness A land that is dark because of hunger.

waves of dew Heb. אגלי, waves of גלי, dew, and the “aleph” is superfluous, as in (above 13: 17), “and to my speech (ואחותי) in your ears.” The “aleph” is superfluous at the beginning of the word because it is a noun, and similarly (Ezek. 21:20), “the scream of (אבחת) the sword,” like נבוח, barking, the scream of the sword. Another explanation: is like אַגְנֵי, basins of dew. A type of basins, divisions in which the dew is deposited. The “lammed” is interchangeable with a “nun,” and so in the Book of Ezra (Neh. 13:7), chamber (נִשְׁכָּה) like לִשְׁכָּה.

and the frost glass or glassa in Old French.

Like a stone...hides because of the ice that congeals in drops upon their faces.

and the face of the deep is caught and held together by it.

the chains of the Pleiades [Tie] the chains of the Pleiades so that all its cold should not go forth and destroy the world with cold.

or loose the straps of Orion to bring out its heat, to mitigate the cold of the Pleiades.

constellations All the other constellations.

and...Ayish The largest star in the Pleiades, to which many stars are attached. He took two stars from it to open the windows of the Deluge, and they were placed in the constellation of Aries and the Holy One, blessed be He, is destined to restore them to her. Tanchuma.

his dominion The dominion of the constellations appointed to bring upon the earth cold and heat, summer and winter.

Can you lift up your voice to the cloud to command it to tie up with the darkness of water so that an abundance of water cover you? That is the darkening of clouds, like (above 22:11), “or darkness so that you do not see.” [or] will an abundance of water from Heaven cover you by your commands.

and say to you in the place where they were sent, ‘Here we are; we have performed our errand,’ because they need not return to their place to reply to their Sender, for the Shechinah is everywhere.

in the inward parts These are the reins.

the rooster Heb. לשכוי. This is the rooster in the language of the Sages (Rosh Hashanah 26a). And some say: This is the heart, which looks (שוכה), watches, and considers the coming events.

charges Heb. יספר, will speak and charge with their mission.

the bottles Made like bottles in which the rains are collected, as in (I Sam. 1:24), “and an earthenware jug (ונבל) of wine.”

When the dust was poured On the day that I poured the dust.

into a mass for the foundation of the world, into its midst.

and the clods cleaved together around it on all sides, until its length and width were filled.

they crouch They stand crouching to lie in wait.

to lie in wait so is the habit of those who lie in wait, to crouch and to stoop themselves so that they will not be recognized.

they wander for lack of food for their own fathers hate them, and the Holy One, blessed be He, prepares gnats for them, which are created from their dung, and they enter their mouths.