Job 37:6–24

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

and to the gentle rain, ‘Pour out a mighty downpour.’

⁷He seals up the hand of every man,

so that all men may know His work.

⁸The wild animals enter their lairs;

they settle down in their dens.

⁹The tempest comes from its chamber,

and the cold from the driving north winds.

¹⁰By the breath of God the ice is formed

and the watery expanses are frozen.

¹¹He loads the clouds with moisture;

He scatters His lightning through them.

¹²They swirl about,

whirling at His direction,

accomplishing all that He commands

over the face of all the earth.

¹³Whether for punishment or for His land,

He accomplishes this in His loving devotion.

¹⁴Listen to this, O Job;

stand still and consider the wonders of God.

¹⁵Do you know how God dispatches the clouds

or makes the lightning flash?

¹⁶Do you understand how the clouds float,

those wonders of Him who is perfect in knowledge?

¹⁷You whose clothes get hot

when the land lies hushed under the south wind,

¹⁸can you, like Him, spread out the skies,

as strong as a mirror of bronze?

¹⁹Teach us what we should say to Him;

we cannot draw up our case because of our darkness.

²⁰Should He be told that I want to speak?

Would a man ask to be swallowed up^a?

²¹Now no one can gaze at the sun

when it is bright in the skies

after the wind has swept them clean.

²²Out of the north He comes in golden splendor;

awesome majesty surrounds Him.

²³The Almighty is beyond our reach;

He is exalted in power!

In His justice and great righteousness

He does not oppress.

²⁴Therefore, men fear Him,

for He is not partial to the wise in heart.”