Job, chapter 37

I Am Frightened

I am frightened and tremble all over,

²when I hear the roaring voice of God in the thunder,

³and when I see his lightningI flash across the sky.

⁴God's majestic voice thunders his commands,*

⁵ Ccreating miracles too marvelous for us to understand.

⁶ CSnow and heavy rainstorms

⁷make us stop and think about God's power,*

⁸and they force animals to seek shelter.

⁹The windstorms of winter strike,

¹⁰and the breath of God freezes streams and rivers.

¹¹Rain clouds filled with lightning appear at God's command,

¹²traveling across the sky ¹³to release their cargo—

sometimes as punishment for sin, sometimes as kindness.

Consider Carefully

¹⁴Job, consider carefully the many wonders of God.

¹⁵Can you explain why lightning flashes

at the orders ¹⁶Cof God who knows all things?

Or how he hangs the clouds in empty space?

¹⁷You almost melt in the heat of fierce desert winds

when the sky is like brassO.

¹⁸God can hammer out the clouds in spite of the oppressive heat,

but can you?

¹⁹Tell us what to say to God! Our minds are in the dark,

and we don't know how to argue our case.

²⁰Should I risk my life by telling God that I want to speakI?

²¹No one can stare at the sun

after a breeze has blown the clouds from the sky.

²²Yet the glorious splendor of God All-Powerful

is brighter by far.

²³God cannot be seen—

but his power is great, and he is always fairI.

²⁴And so we humans fearI God, because he shows no respect

for those who are proud and think they know so much.