Can you send forth lightnings…? asks if Job can make lightning like God does in 36.32, where he commands the lightning to strike. The form of the verb translated as send forth means “release, unleash,” as in 12.15; 20.23. In 36.32; 37.11-13, the lightnings are God’s servants, and they do as he wishes. That they may go means go to the place where Job is, or “come to where you are,” as if these personal servants are returning for further orders.

The lightnings then say Here we are, which is the plural form of the response formula said by Moses to the LORD in Exodus 3.4, and by Samuel to Eli in 1 Samuel 3.4-6. Good News Translation “At your service” suggests a servant ready to do what his master tells him. Good News Translation supplies a good translation model for verse 35. It may also be rendered, for example, as “Can you send the lightning flashing so it will return to you and ask ‘Where next, Master?’ ”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .