Job

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 ^[a] ?

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.”