Job 38:4-41

God’s questions to Job

38:4 “Where were you

when I laid the foundation of the earth?

Tell me, if you possess understanding!

38:5 Who set its measurements – if you know –

or who stretched a measuring line across it?

38:6 On what were its bases set,

or who laid its cornerstone –

38:7 when the morning stars sang in chorus,

and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

38:8 “Who shut up the sea with doors

when it burst forth, coming out of the womb,

38:9 when I made the storm clouds its garment,

and thick darkness its swaddling band,

38:10 when I prescribed its limits,

and set in place its bolts and doors,

38:11 when I said, ‘To here you may come

and no farther,

here your proud waves will be confined’?

38:12 Have you ever in your life commanded the morning,

or made the dawn know its place,

38:13 that it might seize the corners of the earth,

and shake the wicked out of it?

38:14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;

its features are dyed like a garment.

38:15 Then from the wicked the light is withheld,

and the arm raised in violence is broken.

38:16 Have you gone to the springs that fill the sea,

or walked about in the recesses of the deep?

38:17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you?

Have you seen the gates of deepest darkness?

38:18 Have you considered the vast expanses of the earth?

Tell me, if you know it all!

38:19 “In what direction does light reside,

and darkness, where is its place,

38:20 that you may take them to their borders

and perceive the pathways to their homes?

38:21 You know, for you were born before them;

and the number of your days is great!

38:22 Have you entered the storehouse of the snow,

or seen the armory of the hail,

38:23 which I reserve for the time of trouble,

for the day of war and battle?

38:24 In what direction is lightning dispersed,

or the east winds scattered over the earth?

38:25 Who carves out a channel for the heavy rains,

and a path for the rumble of thunder,

38:26 to cause it to rain on an uninhabited land,

a desert where there are no human beings,

38:27 to satisfy a devastated and desolate land,

and to cause it to sprout with vegetation?

38:28 Does the rain have a father,

or who has fathered the drops of the dew?

38:29 From whose womb does the ice emerge,

and the frost from the sky, who gives birth to it,

38:30 when the waters become hard like stone,

when the surface of the deep is frozen solid?

38:31 Can you tie the bands of the Pleiades,

or release the cords of Orion?

38:32 Can you lead out

the constellations in their seasons,

or guide the Bear with its cubs?

38:33 Do you know the laws of the heavens,

or can you set up their rule over the earth?

38:34 Can you raise your voice to the clouds

so that a flood of water covers you?

38:35 Can you send out lightning bolts, and they go?

Will they say to you, ‘Here we are’?

38:36 Who has put wisdom in the heart,

or has imparted understanding to the mind?

38:37 Who by wisdom can count the clouds,

and who can tip over the water jars of heaven,

38:38 when the dust hardens into a mass,

and the clumps of earth stick together?

38:39 “Do you hunt prey for the lioness,

and satisfy the appetite of the lions,

38:40 when they crouch in their dens,

when they wait in ambush in the thicket?

38:41 Who prepares prey for the raven,

when its young cry out to God

and wander about for lack of food?

Psalms 104:2-35

104:2 He covers himself with light as if it were a garment.

He stretches out the skies like a tent curtain,

104:3 and lays the beams of the upper rooms of his palace on the rain clouds.

He makes the clouds his chariot,

and travels along on the wings of the wind.

104:4 He makes the winds his messengers,

and the flaming fire his attendant.

104:5 He established the earth on its foundations;

it will never be upended.

104:6 The watery deep covered it like a garment;

the waters reached above the mountains.

104:7 Your shout made the waters retreat;

at the sound of your thunderous voice they hurried off –

104:8 as the mountains rose up,

and the valleys went down –

to the place you appointed for them.

104:9 You set up a boundary for them that they could not cross,

so that they would not cover the earth again.

104:10 He turns springs into streams;

they flow between the mountains.

104:11 They provide water for all the animals in the field;

the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

104:12 The birds of the sky live beside them;

they chirp among the bushes.

104:13 He waters the mountains from the upper rooms of his palace;

the earth is full of the fruit you cause to grow.

104:14 He provides grass for the cattle,

and crops for people to cultivate,

so they can produce food from the ground,

104:15 as well as wine that makes people feel so good,

and so they can have oil to make their faces shine,

as well as food that sustains people’s lives.

104:16 The trees of the Lord receive all the rain they need,

the cedars of Lebanon which he planted,

104:17 where the birds make nests,

near the evergreens in which the herons live.

104:18 The wild goats live in the high mountains;

the rock badgers find safety in the cliffs.

104:19 He made the moon to mark the months,

and the sun sets according to a regular schedule.

104:20 You make it dark and night comes,

during which all the beasts of the forest prowl around.

104:21 The lions roar for prey,

seeking their food from God.

104:22 When the sun rises, they withdraw

and sleep in their dens.

104:23 Men then go out to do their work,

and labor away until evening.

104:24 How many living things you have made, O Lord!

You have exhibited great skill in making all of them;

the earth is full of the living things you have made.

104:25 Over here is the deep, wide sea,

which teems with innumerable swimming creatures,

living things both small and large.

104:26 The ships travel there,

and over here swims the whale you made to play in it.

104:27 All of your creatures wait for you

to provide them with food on a regular basis.

104:28 You give food to them and they receive it;

you open your hand and they are filled with food.

104:29 When you ignore them, they panic.

When you take away their life’s breath, they die

and return to dust.

104:30 When you send your life-giving breath, they are created,

and you replenish the surface of the ground.

104:31 May the splendor of the Lord endure!

May the Lord find pleasure in the living things he has made!

104:32 He looks down on the earth and it shakes;

he touches the mountains and they start to smolder.

104:33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I exist!

104:34 May my thoughts be pleasing to him!

I will rejoice in the Lord.

104:35 May sinners disappear from the earth,

and the wicked vanish!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!

Praise the Lord!

Isaiah 40:12-31

The Lord is Incomparable

40:12 Who has measured out the waters in the hollow of his hand,

or carefully measured the sky,

or carefully weighed the soil of the earth,

or weighed the mountains in a balance,

or the hills on scales?

40:13 Who comprehends the mind of the Lord,

or gives him instruction as his counselor?

40:14 From whom does he receive directions?

Who teaches him the correct way to do things,

or imparts knowledge to him,

or instructs him in skillful design?

40:15 Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket;

they are regarded as dust on the scales.

He lifts the coastlands as if they were dust.

40:16 Not even Lebanon could supply enough firewood for a sacrifice;

its wild animals would not provide enough burnt offerings.

40:17 All the nations are insignificant before him;

they are regarded as absolutely nothing.

40:18 To whom can you compare God?

To what image can you liken him?

40:19 A craftsman casts an idol;

a metalsmith overlays it with gold

and forges silver chains for it.

40:20 To make a contribution one selects wood that will not rot;

he then seeks a skilled craftsman

to make an idol that will not fall over.

40:21 Do you not know?

Do you not hear?

Has it not been told to you since the very beginning?

Have you not understood from the time the earth’s foundations were made?

40:22 He is the one who sits on the earth’s horizon;

its inhabitants are like grasshoppers before him.

He is the one who stretches out the sky like a thin curtain,

and spreads it out like a pitched tent.

40:23 He is the one who reduces rulers to nothing;

he makes the earth’s leaders insignificant.

40:24 Indeed, they are barely planted;

yes, they are barely sown;

yes, they barely take root in the earth,

and then he blows on them, causing them to dry up,

and the wind carries them away like straw.

40:25 “To whom can you compare me? Whom do I resemble?”

says the Holy One.

40:26 Look up at the sky!

Who created all these heavenly lights?

He is the one who leads out their ranks;

he calls them all by name.

Because of his absolute power and awesome strength,

not one of them is missing.

40:27 Why do you say, Jacob,

Why do you say, Israel,

“The Lord is not aware of what is happening to me,

My God is not concerned with my vindication”?

40:28 Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is an eternal God,

the creator of the whole earth.

He does not get tired or weary;

there is no limit to his wisdom.

40:29 He gives strength to those who are tired;

to the ones who lack power, he gives renewed energy.

40:30 Even youths get tired and weary;

even strong young men clumsily stumble.

40:31 But those who wait for the Lord’s help find renewed strength;

they rise up as if they had eagles’ wings,

they run without growing weary,

they walk without getting tired.

Isaiah 53:8

53:8 He was led away after an unjust trial –

but who even cared?

Indeed, he was cut off from the land of the living;

because of the rebellion of his own people he was wounded.