Job 37:1–24

¹ “At this my heart also pounds and leaps from its place. ² Listen closely to the thunder of His voice and the rumbling that comes from His mouth. ³ He unleashes His lightning beneath the whole sky and sends it to the ends of the earth. ⁴ Then there comes a roaring sound; He thunders with His majestic voice. He does not restrain the lightning when His voice resounds. ⁵ God thunders wondrously with His voice; He does great things we cannot comprehend. ⁶ For He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the gentle rain, ‘Pour out a mighty downpour.’ ⁷ He seals up the hand of every man, so that all men may know His work. ⁸ The wild animals enter their lairs; they settle down in their dens. ⁹ The tempest comes from its chamber, and the cold from the driving north winds. ¹⁰ By the breath of God the ice is formed and the watery expanses are frozen. ¹¹ He loads the clouds with moisture; He scatters His lightning through them. ¹² They swirl about, whirling at His direction, accomplishing all that He commands over the face of all the earth. ¹³ Whether for punishment or for His land, He accomplishes this in His loving devotion. ¹⁴ Listen to this, O Job; stand still and consider the wonders of God. ¹⁵ Do you know how God dispatches the clouds or makes the lightning flash? ¹⁶ Do you understand how the clouds float, those wonders of Him who is perfect in knowledge? ¹⁷ You whose clothes get hot when the land lies hushed under the south wind, ¹⁸ can you, like Him, spread out the skies to reflect the heat like a mirror of bronze? ¹⁹ Teach us what we should say to Him; we cannot draw up our case when our faces are in darkness. ²⁰ Should He be told that I want to speak? Would a man ask to be swallowed up ? ²¹ Now no one can gaze at the sun when it is bright in the skies after the wind has swept them clean. ²² Out of the north He comes in golden splendor; awesome majesty surrounds Him. ²³ The Almighty is beyond our reach; He is exalted in power! In His justice and great righteousness He does not oppress. ²⁴ Therefore, men fear Him, for He is not partial to the wise in heart.”