“When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.”
My Notes
What Does Jeremiah 10:13 Mean?
Jeremiah describes God's sovereign control over nature with cascading images: when God speaks, the waters in heaven multiply. He causes vapors to rise from the earth's ends. He makes lightning with rain. He brings wind from His treasures. Every natural phenomenon is attributed directly to God's active, ongoing work.
The word "uttereth" means to give, to send forth. God's voice doesn't just describe weather—it produces it. The rain isn't a mechanism that happens to coincide with God's existence. It's a product of His voice. He speaks and the waters respond. He commands and the vapors rise. The weather isn't background noise in God's world. It's the sound of His ongoing creative activity.
The phrase "bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures" personifies God's storehouses. The wind—invisible, powerful, unpredictable—comes from a divine treasury. God doesn't produce weather from nothing but from stored resources. He has reserves of wind, reserves of rain, reserves of lightning. The natural world is sustained by ongoing divine generosity from an inexhaustible supply.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Do you see the natural world as a system or as God's ongoing creative activity? How would seeing it as Jeremiah does change your daily experience?
- 2.What would it mean to hear God's 'voice' in the next thunderstorm, rainfall, or change of wind?
- 3.God brings wind from His 'treasures'—reserves stored up for when they're needed. What other resources might God have stored up that you haven't tapped into yet?
- 4.How does reenchanting nature—seeing God behind every weather event—deepen your sense of His presence in ordinary life?
Devotional
When God speaks, the heavens fill with water. When He wants, vapors rise from the earth's edges. Lightning comes with rain. Wind comes from His storehouses. Every weather event you've ever experienced was God doing something.
This verse reenchants the natural world. We've been trained to see weather as a system—physics, atmospheric pressure, evaporation cycles. And those descriptions aren't wrong. But Jeremiah says they're incomplete. Behind the physics is a Person. Behind the pressure system is a Voice. The rain that falls on your roof is God speaking. The wind that moves the trees is God reaching into His treasure room.
The word "treasures" for the source of the wind is beautiful. God doesn't just produce wind—He stores it. Like a king with a vault full of resources, God has reserves. When the earth needs wind, He reaches into the treasury and brings some out. The supply isn't running low. The storehouses aren't depleting. There is more where that came from—infinitely more.
The next time it rains—really rains, not just a drizzle but a downpour—let Jeremiah's verse play in your mind. This is God uttering His voice. The multiple waters in the heavens are His expression. The vapors, the lightning, the wind—all drawn from divine treasuries. The world isn't a machine. It's an ongoing conversation between the Creator and His creation.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
When he uttereth his voice,.... Declares his will and pleasure, issues out his commands; or when he thunders, for…
When ... - i. e., the rushing downpour of rain follows immediately upon the thunder. The rest of the verse is identical…
The prophet Isaiah, when he prophesied of the captivity in Babylon, added warnings against idolatry and largely exposed…
when he uttereth his voice, etc.] The sense is plain, though the form of the Hebrew in MT. is peculiar, and hence the…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture