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Wednesday, 7 June 2023

The Book of JOB - Chapter Thirty Eight

  

1 

Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

‘Who is this that obscures my plans
    with words without knowledge?

Brace yourself like a man;
    I will question you,
    and you shall answer me.

‘Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
    Tell me, if you understand.

Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
    Who stretched a measuring line across it?

On what were its footings set,
    or who laid its cornerstone –

while the morning stars sang together
    and all the angels shouted for joy?

‘Who shut up the sea behind doors
    when it burst forth from the womb,

when I made the clouds its garment
    and wrapped it in thick darkness,

10 

when I fixed limits for it
    and set its doors and bars in place,

11 

when I said, “This far you may come and no farther;
    here is where your proud waves halt”?

12 

‘Have you ever given orders to the morning,
    or shown the dawn its place,

13 

that it might take the earth by the edges
    and shake the wicked out of it?

14 

The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
    its features stand out like those of a garment.

15 

The wicked are denied their light,
    and their upraised arm is broken.

16 

‘Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
    or walked in the recesses of the deep?

17 

Have the gates of death been shown to you?
    Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?

18 

Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
    Tell me, if you know all this.

19 

‘What is the way to the abode of light?
    And where does darkness reside?

20 

Can you take them to their places?
    Do you know the paths to their dwellings?

21 

Surely you know, for you were already born!
    You have lived so many years!

22 

‘Have you entered the storehouses of the snow
    or seen the storehouses of the hail,

23 

which I reserve for times of trouble,
    for days of war and battle?

24 

What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,
    or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?

25 

Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain,
    and a path for the thunderstorm,

26 

to water a land where no one lives,
    an uninhabited desert,

27 

to satisfy a desolate wasteland
    and make it sprout with grass?

28 

Does the rain have a father?
    Who fathers the drops of dew?

29 

From whose womb comes the ice?
    Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens

30 

when the waters become hard as stone,
    when the surface of the deep is frozen?

31 

‘Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades?
    Can you loosen Orion’s belt?

32 

Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons
    or lead out the Bear with its cubs?

33 

Do you know the laws of the heavens?
    Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth?

34 

‘Can you raise your voice to the clouds
    and cover yourself with a flood of water?

35 

Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
    Do they report to you, “Here we are”?

36 

Who gives the ibis wisdom
    or gives the cockerel understanding?

37 

Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
    Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens

38 

when the dust becomes hard
    and the clods of earth stick together?

39 

‘Do you hunt the prey for the lioness
    and satisfy the hunger of the lions

40 

when they crouch in their dens
    or lie in wait in a thicket?

41 

Who provides food for the raven
    when its young cry out to God
    and wander about for lack of food?


-=-=-=-=-
READINGS

The Book Of JOB

Chapter Thirty Eight

Read by David Suchet

-=-=-=-

OVERVIEW 

The Book Of JOB

Overview

(The Bible Project) 



-=-=-=-=-

STUDIES 


The Book Of JOB

David Pawson





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-=-=-=-=-



Chris Tomlin



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Tuesday, 6 June 2023

The Book of JOB - Chapter Thirty Seven



1

 

‘At this my heart pounds
    and leaps from its place.

Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice,
    to the rumbling that comes from his mouth.

He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven
    and sends it to the ends of the earth.

After that comes the sound of his roar;
    he thunders with his majestic voice.
When his voice resounds,
    he holds nothing back.

God’s voice thunders in marvellous ways;
    he does great things beyond our understanding.

He says to the snow, “Fall on the earth,”
    and to the rain shower, “Be a mighty downpour.”

So that everyone he has made may know his work,
    he stops all people from their labour.

The animals take cover;
    they remain in their dens.

The tempest comes out from its chamber,
    the cold from the driving winds.

10 

The breath of God produces ice,
    and the broad waters become frozen.

11 

He loads the clouds with moisture;
    he scatters his lightning through them.

12 

At his direction they swirl around
    over the face of the whole earth
    to do whatever he commands them.

13 

He brings the clouds to punish people,
    or to water his earth and show his love.

14 

‘Listen to this, Job;
    stop and consider God’s wonders.

15 

Do you know how God controls the clouds
    and makes his lightning flash?

16 

Do you know how the clouds hang poised,
    those wonders of him who is perfect in knowledge?

17 

You who swelter in your clothes
    when the land lies hushed under the south wind,

18 

can you join him in spreading out the skies,
    hard as a mirror of cast bronze?

19 

‘Tell us what we should say to him;
    we cannot draw up our case because of our darkness.

20 

Should he be told that I want to speak?
    Would anyone ask to be swallowed up?

21 

Now no one can look at the sun,
    bright as it is in the skies
    after the wind has swept them clean.

22 

Out of the north he comes in golden splendour;
    God comes in awesome majesty.

23 

The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power;
    in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress.

24 

Therefore, people revere him,
    for does he not have regard for all the wise in heart?’



-=-=-=-=-
READINGS

The Book Of JOB

Chapter Thirty Seven

Read by David Suchet


-=-=-=-

OVERVIEW 

The Book Of JOB

Overview

(The Bible Project) 




-=-=-=-=-

STUDIES 


The Book Of JOB

David Pawson




-=-=-=-=- 



-=-=-=-=-

-=-=-=-






  

































































PSALM 145

  A psalm of praise. Of David. 1  I will exalt you, my God the King;      I will praise your name for ever and ever. 2  Every day I will pr...