An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, and thirty-seventh chapters of…

The place where Snow is generated is in the Air, from thence it receives a command to dispatch it self to the Earth, and there to abide; He saith to the Snow, be thou on the Earth, that is, cover the face of the earth, be thou as a mantle upon the earth, or as a white sheet spread over the whole face of it, until I call or take and dissolve thee into water. The same command which is here thee off expressed concerning the Snow, is also sent forth to the Rain; He saith to the Snow be thou on the earth, ⟨p. 471⟩Likewise to the small rain, &c.

The place where Snow is generated is in the Air, from thence it receives a command to dispatch it self to the Earth, and there to abide; He saith to the Snow, be thou on the Earth, that is, cover the face of the earth, be thou as a mantle upon the earth, or as a white sheet spread over the whole face of it, until I call or take and dissolve thee into water. The same command which is here thee off exprest concerning the Snow, is also sent forth to the Rain; He saith to the Snow be thou on the earth, ⟨p. 471⟩Likewise to the small rain, &c.

That is, he saith to the small Rain, do thou descend upon the earth. By small Rain is meant any gentle Rain, softly and sweetly dropping and de•tilling out of the Clouds. Now as God orders this small Rain, so likewise, as it followeth, The great Rain of his strength.

The whole O iginal Text,¹ which we render the small Rain and the great Rain of is strength, hath a great Elegance in it, word for word thus, He saith to the shower of Rain, and to the shower of Rains of his strength. The word Rain in both is the same, only the former is in the singular, and the latter in the plural number, which heightens or increaseth the sense, as Critics and Grammarians tell us, and therefore we render small Rain and great Rain; to which Elihu gives this further addition in the cloe of the verse, The great Rain Of his strength.