Elihu Says God Is Back of the Storm

1“At this also my heart trembles,

And leaps from its place.

2Listen closely to the thunder of His voice,

And the rumbling that goes out from His mouth.

3Under the whole heaven He lets it loose,

And His lightning to the ends of the earth.

4After it, a voice roars;

He thunders with His majestic voice,

And He does not restrain the lightnings when His voice is heard.

5God thunders with His voice wondrously,

Doing great things which we cannot comprehend.

6For to the snow He says, ‘Fall on the earth,’

And to the downpour and the rain, ‘Be strong.’

7He seals the hand of every man,

That all men may know His work.

8Then the beast goes into its lair

And remains in its den.

9Out of the south comes the storm,

And out of the north the cold.

10From the breath of God ice is made,

And the expanse of the waters is frozen.

11Also with moisture He loads the thick cloud;

He disperses the cloud of His lightning.

12It changes direction, turning around by His guidance,

That it may do whatever He commands it

On the face of the inhabited earth.

13Whether for correction, or for His world,

Or for lovingkindness, He causes it to happen.

14“Listen to this, O Job,

Stand and consider the wonders of God.

15Do you know how God establishes them,

And makes the lightning of His cloud to shine?

16Do you know about the layers of the thick clouds,

The wonders of one perfect in knowledge,

17You whose garments are hot,

When the land is still because of the south wind?

18Can you, with Him, spread out the skies,

Strong as a molten mirror?

19Teach us what we shall say to Him;

We cannot arrange our case because of darkness.

20Shall it be told Him that I would speak?

Or should a man say that he would be swallowed up?

21“Now men do not see the light which is bright in the skies;

But the wind has passed and cleared them.

22Out of the north comes golden splendor;

Around God is awesome majesty.

23The Almighty—we cannot find Him;

He is exalted in power

And He will not do violence to justice and abundant righteousness.

24Therefore men fear Him;

He does not regard any who are wise of heart.”

God Speaks Now to Job

1Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,

2“Who is this that darkens counsel

By words without knowledge?

3Now gird up your loins like a man,

And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!

4Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

Tell Me, if you have understanding,

5Who set its measurements? Since you know.

Or who stretched the line on it?

6On what were its bases sunk?

Or who laid its cornerstone,

7When the morning stars sang together

And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8“Or who enclosed the sea with doors

When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb;

9When I made a cloud its garment

And thick darkness its swaddling band,

10And I placed boundaries on it

And set a bolt and doors,

11And I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther;

And here shall your proud waves stop’?

God’s Mighty Power

12“Have you ever in your life commanded the morning,

And caused the dawn to know its place,

13That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,

And the wicked be shaken out of it?

14It is changed like clay under the seal;

And they stand forth like a garment.

15From the wicked their light is withheld,

And the uplifted arm is broken.

16“Have you entered into the springs of the sea

Or walked in the recesses of the deep?

17Have the gates of death been revealed to you,

Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

18Have you understood the expanse of the earth?

Tell Me, if you know all this.

19“Where is the way to the dwelling of light?

And darkness, where is its place,

20That you may take it to its territory

And that you may discern the paths to its home?

21You know, for you were born then,

And the number of your days is great!

22Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,

Or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

23Which I have reserved for the time of distress,

For the day of war and battle?

24Where is the way that the light is divided,

Or the east wind scattered on the earth?

25“Who has cleft a channel for the flood,

Or a way for the thunderbolt,

26To bring rain on a land without people,

On a desert without a man in it,

27To satisfy the waste and desolate land

And to make the seeds of grass to sprout?

28Has the rain a father?

Or who has begotten the drops of dew?

29From whose womb has come the ice?

And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth?

30Water becomes hard like stone,

And the surface of the deep is imprisoned.

31“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades,

Or loose the cords of Orion?

32Can you lead forth a constellation in its season,

And guide the Bear with her satellites?

33Do you know the ordinances of the heavens,

Or fix their rule over the earth?

34“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,

So that an abundance of water will cover you?

35Can you send forth lightnings that they may go

And say to you, ‘Here we are’?

36Who has put wisdom in the innermost being

Or given understanding to the mind?

37Who can count the clouds by wisdom,

Or tip the water jars of the heavens,

38When the dust hardens into a mass

And the clods stick together?

39“Can you hunt the prey for the lion,

Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

40When they crouch in their dens

And lie in wait in their lair?

41Who prepares for the raven its nourishment

When its young cry to God

And wander about without food?

God Speaks of Nature and Its Beings

1“Do you know the time the mountain goats give birth?

Do you observe the calving of the deer?

2Can you count the months they fulfill,

Or do you know the time they give birth?

3They kneel down, they bring forth their young,

They get rid of their labor pains.

4Their offspring become strong, they grow up in the open field;

They leave and do not return to them.

5“Who sent out the wild donkey free?

And who loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,

6To whom I gave the wilderness for a home

And the salt land for his dwelling place?

7He scorns the tumult of the city,

The shoutings of the driver he does not hear.

8He explores the mountains for his pasture

And searches after every green thing.

9Will the wild ox consent to serve you,

Or will he spend the night at your manger?

10Can you bind the wild ox in a furrow with ropes,

Or will he harrow the valleys after you?

11Will you trust him because his strength is great

And leave your labor to him?

12Will you have faith in him that he will return your grain

And gather it from your threshing floor?

13“The ostriches’ wings flap joyously

With the pinion and plumage of love,

14For she abandons her eggs to the earth

And warms them in the dust,

15And she forgets that a foot may crush them,

Or that a wild beast may trample them.

16She treats her young cruelly, as if they were not hers;

Though her labor be in vain, she is unconcerned;

17Because God has made her forget wisdom,

And has not given her a share of understanding.

18When she lifts herself on high,

She laughs at the horse and his rider.

19“Do you give the horse his might?

Do you clothe his neck with a mane?

20Do you make him leap like the locust?

His majestic snorting is terrible.

21He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength;

He goes out to meet the weapons.

22He laughs at fear and is not dismayed;

And he does not turn back from the sword.

23The quiver rattles against him,

The flashing spear and javelin.

24With shaking and rage he races over the ground,

And he does not stand still at the voice of the trumpet.

25As often as the trumpet sounds he says, ‘Aha!’

And he scents the battle from afar,

And the thunder of the captains and the war cry.

26“Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars,

Stretching his wings toward the south?

27Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up

And makes his nest on high?

28On the cliff he dwells and lodges,

Upon the rocky crag, an inaccessible place.

29From there he spies out food;

His eyes see it from afar.

30His young ones also suck up blood;

And where the slain are, there is he.”

13But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed, therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak, 14knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. 15For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.

16Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 17For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

The Temporal and Eternal

1For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, 3inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. 4For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. 5Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.

6Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— 7for we walk by faith, not by sight— 8we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 9Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. 10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

9Yet You have rejected us and brought us to dishonor,

And do not go out with our armies.

10You cause us to turn back from the adversary;

And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.

11You give us as sheep to be eaten

And have scattered us among the nations.

12You sell Your people cheaply,

And have not profited by their sale.

13You make us a reproach to our neighbors,

A scoffing and a derision to those around us.

14You make us a byword among the nations,

A laughingstock among the peoples.

15All day long my dishonor is before me

And my humiliation has overwhelmed me,

16Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles,

Because of the presence of the enemy and the avenger.

17All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You,

And we have not dealt falsely with Your covenant.

18Our heart has not turned back,

And our steps have not deviated from Your way,

19Yet You have crushed us in a place of jackals

And covered us with the shadow of death.

20If we had forgotten the name of our God

Or extended our hands to a strange god,

21Would not God find this out?

For He knows the secrets of the heart.

22But for Your sake we are killed all day long;

We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

23Arouse Yourself, why do You sleep, O Lord?

Awake, do not reject us forever.

24Why do You hide Your face

And forget our affliction and our oppression?

25For our soul has sunk down into the dust;

Our body cleaves to the earth.

26Rise up, be our help,

And redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness.

13The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside;

I will be killed in the streets!”