HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 845
JOB 38
page 475
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He makes these things happen either to
punish people
or to show his unfailing love.
“Pay attention to this, Job.
Stop and consider the wonderful miracles
of God!
Do you know how God controls the storm
and causes the lightning to flash from
his clouds?
Do you understand how he moves the clouds
with wonderful perfection and skill?
When you are sweltering in your clothes
and the south wind dies down and
everything is still,
he makes the skies reflect the heat like
a bronze mirror.
Can you do that?
“So teach the rest of us what to say to God.
We are too ignorant to make our own
arguments.
Should God be notified that I want to speak?
Can people even speak when they are
confused?*
We cannot look at the sun,
for it shines brightly in the sky
when the wind clears away the clouds.
So also, golden splendor comes from the
mountain of God.*
He is clothed in dazzling splendor.
We cannot imagine the power of the
Almighty;
but even though he is just and righteous,
he does not destroy us.
No wonder people everywhere fear him.
All who are wise show him reverence.*”
The LORD Challenges Job
Then the Lord answered Job from the
whirlwind:
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“Who is this that questions my wisdom
with such ignorant words?
Brace yourself like a man,
because I have some questions for you,
and you must answer them.
“Where were you when I laid the
foundations of the earth?
Tell me, if you know so much.
Who determined its dimensions
and stretched out the surveying line?
What supports its foundations,
and who laid its cornerstone
as the morning stars sang together
and all the angels* shouted for joy?
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“Who kept the sea inside its boundaries
as it burst from the womb,
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37:20 Or speak without being swallowed up? 37:22 Or from
the north; or from the abode. 37:24 As in Greek version;
Hebrew reads He is not impressed by the wise. 38:7 Hebrew
the sons of God. 38:14 Or its features stand out like folds in
a robe.
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and as I clothed it with clouds
and wrapped it in thick darkness?
For I locked it behind barred gates,
limiting its shores.
I said, ‘This far and no farther will you come.
Here your proud waves must stop!’
“Have you ever commanded the morning
to appear
and caused the dawn to rise in the east?
Have you made daylight spread to the ends
of the earth,
to bring an end to the night’s wickedness?
As the light approaches,
the earth takes shape like clay pressed
beneath a seal;
it is robed in brilliant colors.*
The light disturbs the wicked
and stops the arm that is raised in
violence.
“Have you explored the springs from which
the seas come?
Have you explored their depths?
Do you know where the gates of death are
located?
Have you seen the gates of utter gloom?
Do you realize the extent of the earth?
Tell me about it if you know!
“Where does light come from,
and where does darkness go?
Can you take each to its home?
Do you know how to get there?
But of course you know all this!
For you were born before it was all created,
and you are so very experienced!
“Have you visited the storehouses of
the snow
or seen the storehouses of hail?
(I have reserved them as weapons for the
time of trouble,
for the day of battle and war.)
Where is the path to the source of light?
Where is the home of the east wind?
“Who created a channel for the torrents
of rain?
Who laid out the path for the lightning?
Who makes the rain fall on barren land,
in a desert where no one lives?
Who sends rain to satisfy the parched
ground
and make the tender grass spring up?
“Does the rain have a father?
Who gives birth to the dew?
Who is the mother of the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the
heavens?
For the water turns to ice as hard as rock,
and the surface of the water freezes.