Month: December 2019

1 The storm makes my heart beat wildly.

2 Listen, all of you, to the voice of God,

to the thunder that comes from his mouth.

3 He sends the lightning across the sky,

from one end of the earth to the other.

4 Then the roar of his voice is heard,

the majestic sound of thunder,

and all the while the lightning flashes.

5 At God’s command amazing things happen,

wonderful things that we can’t understand.

6 He commands snow to fall on the earth,

and sends torrents of drenching rain.

7 He brings our work to a stop;

he shows us what he can do.

8 The wild animals go to their dens.

9 The storm winds come from the south,

and the biting cold from the north.

10 The breath of God freezes the waters,

and turns them to solid ice.

11 Lightning flashes from the clouds,

12 as they move at God’s will.

They do all that God commands,

everywhere throughout the world.

13 God sends rain to water the earth;

he may send it to punish us,

or to show us his favor.

14 Pause a moment, Job, and listen;

consider the wonderful things God does.

15 Do you know how God gives the command

and makes lightning flash from the clouds?

16 Do you know how clouds float in the sky,

the work of God’s amazing skill?

17 No, you can only suffer in the heat

when the south wind oppresses the land.

18 Can you help God stretch out the sky

and make it as hard as polished metal?

19 Teach us what to say to God;

our minds are blank; we have nothing to say.

20 I won’t ask to speak with God;

why should I give him a chance to destroy me?

21 And now the light in the sky is dazzling,

too bright for us to look at it;

and the sky has been swept clean by the wind.

22 A golden glow is seen in the north,

and the glory of God fills us with awe.

23 God’s power is so great that we cannot come near him;

he is righteous and just in his dealings with us.

24 No wonder, then, that everyone is awed by him,

and that he ignores those who claim to be wise.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/37-581ed75eb29eb61b713a5e8f0f7d3856.mp3?version_id=68—

The Lord Answers Job

1 Then out of the storm theLordspoke to Job.

2 Who are you to question my wisdom

with your ignorant, empty words?

3 Now stand up straight

and answer the questions I ask you.

4 Were you there when I made the world?

If you know so much, tell me about it.

5 Who decided how large it would be?

Who stretched the measuring line over it?

Do you know all the answers?

6 What holds up the pillars that support the earth?

Who laid the cornerstone of the world?

7 In the dawn of that day the stars sang together,

and the heavenly beingsshouted for joy.

8 Who closed the gates to hold back the sea

when it burst from the womb of the earth?

9 It was I who covered the sea with clouds

and wrapped it in darkness.

10 I marked a boundary for the sea

and kept it behind bolted gates.

11 I told it, “So far and no farther!

Here your powerful waves must stop.”

12 Job, have you ever in all your life

commanded a day to dawn?

13 Have you ordered the dawn to seize the earth

and shake the wicked from their hiding places?

14 Daylight makes the hills and valleys stand out

like the folds of a garment,

clear as the imprint of a seal on clay.

15 The light of day is too bright for the wicked

and restrains them from doing violence.

16 Have you been to the springs in the depths of the sea?

Have you walked on the floor of the ocean?

17 Has anyone ever shown you the gates

that guard the dark world of the dead?

18 Have you any idea how big the world is?

Answer me if you know.

19 Do you know where the light comes from

or what the source of darkness is?

20 Can you show them how far to go,

or send them back again?

21 I am sure you can, because you’re so old

and were there when the world was made!

22 Have you ever visited the storerooms,

where I keep the snow and the hail?

23 I keep them ready for times of trouble,

for days of battle and war.

24 Have you been to the place where the sun comes up,

or the place from which the east wind blows?

25 Who dug a channel for the pouring rain

and cleared the way for the thunderstorm?

26 Who makes rain fall where no one lives?

27 Who waters the dry and thirsty land,

so that grass springs up?

28 Does either the rain or the dew have a father?

29 Who is the mother of the ice and the frost,

30 which turn the waters to stone

and freeze the face of the sea?

31 Can you tie the Pleiades together

or loosen the bonds that hold Orion?

32 Can you guide the stars season by season

and direct the Big and the Little Dipper?

33 Do you know the laws that govern the skies,

and can you make them apply to the earth?

34 Can you shout orders to the clouds

and make them drench you with rain?

35 And if you command the lightning to flash,

will it come to you and say, “At your service”?

36 Who tells the ibiswhen the Nile will flood,

or who tells the rooster that rain will fall?

37 Who is wise enough to count the clouds

and tilt them over to pour out the rain,

38 rain that hardens the dust into lumps?

39 Do you find food for lions to eat,

and satisfy hungry young lions

40 when they hide in their caves,

or lie in wait in their dens?

41 Who is it that feeds the ravens

when they wander about hungry,

when their young cry to me for food?

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/38-03240667156897d02ef521fe8e68d7e3.mp3?version_id=68—

1 Do you know when mountain goats are born?

Have you watched wild deer give birth?

2 Do you know how long they carry their young?

Do you know the time for their birth?

3 Do you know when they will crouch down

and bring their young into the world?

4 In the wilds their young grow strong;

they go away and don’t come back.

5 Who gave the wild donkeys their freedom?

Who turned them loose and let them roam?

6 I gave them the desert to be their home,

and let them live on the salt plains.

7 They keep far away from the noisy cities,

and no one can tame them and make them work.

8 The mountains are the pastures where they feed,

where they search for anything green to eat.

9 Will a wild ox work for you?

Is he willing to spend the night in your stable?

10 Can you hold one with a rope and make him plow?

Or make him pull a harrow in your fields?

11 Can you rely on his great strength

and expect him to do your heavy work?

12 Do you expect him to bring in your harvest

and gather the grain from your threshing place?

13 How fast the wings of an ostrich beat!

But no ostrich can fly like a stork.

14 The ostrich leaves her eggs on the ground

for the heat in the soil to warm them.

15 She is unaware that a foot may crush them

or a wild animal break them.

16 She acts as if the eggs were not hers,

and is unconcerned that her efforts were wasted.

17 It was I who made her foolish

and did not give her wisdom.

18 But when she begins to run,

she can laugh at any horse and rider.

19 Was it you, Job, who made horses so strong

and gave them their flowing manes?

20 Did you make them leap like locusts

and frighten people with their snorting?

21 They eagerly paw the ground in the valley;

they rush into battle with all their strength.

22 They do not know the meaning of fear,

and no sword can turn them back.

23 The weapons which their riders carry

rattle and flash in the sun.

24 Trembling with excitement, the horses race ahead;

when the trumpet blows, they can’t stand still.

25 At each blast of the trumpet they snort;

they can smell a battle before they get near,

and they hear the officers shouting commands.

26 Does a hawk learn from you how to fly

when it spreads its wings toward the south?

27 Does an eagle wait for your command

to build its nest high in the mountains?

28 It makes its home on the highest rocks

and makes the sharp peaks its fortress.

29 From there it watches near and far

for something to kill and eat.

30 Around dead bodies the eagles gather,

and the young eagles drink the blood.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/39-bb879152ec322e6d81dd022946f7d4b4.mp3?version_id=68—

1-2 Job, you challenged Almighty God;

will you give up now, or will you answer?

3-4 I spoke foolishly,Lord. What can I answer?

I will not try to say anything else.

5 I have already said more than I should.

6 Then out of the storm theLordspoke to Job once again.

7 Now stand up straight

and answer my questions.

8 Are you trying to prove that I am unjust—

to put me in the wrong and yourself in the right?

9 Are you as strong as I am?

Can your voice thunder as loud as mine?

10 If so, stand up in your honor and pride;

clothe yourself with majesty and glory.

11 Look at those who are proud;

pour out your anger and humble them.

12 Yes, look at them and bring them down;

crush the wicked where they stand.

13 Bury them all in the ground;

bind them in the world of the dead.

14 Then I will be the first to praise you

and admit that you won the victory yourself.

15 Look at the monster Behemoth;

I created him and I created you.

He eats grass like a cow,

16 but what strength there is in his body,

and what power there is in his muscles!

17 His tail stands up like a cedar,

and the muscles in his legs are strong.

18 His bones are as strong as bronze,

and his legs are like iron bars.

19 The most amazing of all my creatures!

Only his Creator can defeat him.

20 Grass to feed him grows

on the hills where wild beasts play.

21 He lies down under the thorn bushes,

and hides among the reeds in the swamp.

22 The thorn bushes and the willows by the stream

give him shelter in their shade.

23 He is not afraid of a rushing river;

he is calm when the Jordan dashes in his face.

24 Who can blind his eyes and capture him?

Or who can catch his snout in a trap?

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/40-176a1c530aa156ca24ec2ab2f7718acf.mp3?version_id=68—

1 Can you catch Leviathanwith a fishhook

or tie his tongue down with a rope?

2 Can you put a rope through his snout

or put a hook through his jaws?

3 Will he beg you to let him go?

Will he plead with you for mercy?

4 Will he make an agreement with you

and promise to serve you forever?

5 Will you tie him like a pet bird,

like something to amuse your servant women?

6 Will fishermen bargain over him?

Will merchants cut him up to sell?

7 Can you fill his hide with fishing spears

or pierce his head with a harpoon?

8 Touch him once and you’ll never try it again;

you’ll never forget the fight!

9 Anyone who sees Leviathan

loses courage and falls to the ground.

10 When he is aroused, he is fierce;

no one would dare to stand before him.

11 Who can attack him and still be safe?

No one in all the world can do it.

12 Let me tell you about Leviathan’s legs

and describe how great and strong he is.

13 No one can tear off his outer coat

or pierce the armorhe wears.

14 Who can make him open his jaws,

ringed with those terrifying teeth?

15 His backis made of rows of shields,

fastened together and hard as stone.

16 Each one is joined so tight to the next,

not even a breath can come between.

17 They all are fastened so firmly together

that nothing can ever pull them apart.

18 Light flashes when he sneezes,

and his eyes glow like the rising sun.

19 Flames blaze from his mouth,

and streams of sparks fly out.

20 Smoke comes pouring out of his nose,

like smoke from weeds burning under a pot.

21 His breath starts fires burning;

flames leap out of his mouth.

22 His neck is so powerful

that all who meet him are terrified.

23 There is not a weak spot in his skin;

it is as hard and unyielding as iron.

24 His stony heart is without fear,

as unyielding and hard as a millstone.

25 When he rises up, even the strongestare frightened;

they are helpless with fear.

26 There is no sword that can wound him;

no spear or arrow or lance that can harm him.

27 For him iron is as flimsy as straw,

and bronze as soft as rotten wood.

28 There is no arrow that can make him run;

rocks thrown at him are like bits of straw.

29 To him a club is a piece of straw,

and he laughs when men throw spears.

30 The scales on his belly are like jagged pieces of pottery;

they tear up the muddy ground like a threshing sledge.

31 He churns up the sea like boiling water

and makes it bubble like a pot of oil.

32 He leaves a shining path behind him

and turns the sea to white foam.

33 There is nothing on earth to compare with him;

he is a creature that has no fear.

34 He looks down on even the proudest animals;

he is king of all wild beasts.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/41-9c1a6df5d65e5ae2f21811aff760d782.mp3?version_id=68—

1 Then Job answered theLord.

2 I know,Lord, that you are all-powerful;

that you can do everything you want.

3 You ask how I dare question your wisdom

when I am so very ignorant.

I talked about things I did not understand,

about marvels too great for me to know.

4 You told me to listen while you spoke

and to try to answer your questions.

5 In the past I knew only what others had told me,

but now I have seen you with my own eyes.

6 So I am ashamed of all I have said

and repent in dust and ashes.

Conclusion

7 After theLordhad finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you did not speak the truth about me, the way my servant Job did.

8 Now take seven bulls and seven rams to Job and offer them as a sacrifice for yourselves. Job will pray for you, and I will answer his prayer and not disgrace you the way you deserve. You did not speak the truth about me as he did.”

9 Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar did what theLordhad told them to do, and theLordanswered Job’s prayer.

10 Then, after Job had prayed for his three friends, theLordmade him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had had before.

11 All Job’s brothers and sisters and former friends came to visit him and feasted with him in his house. They expressed their sympathy and comforted him for all the troubles theLordhad brought on him. Each of them gave him some money and a gold ring.

12 TheLordblessed the last part of Job’s life even more than he had blessed the first. Job owned fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, two thousand head of cattle, and one thousand donkeys.

13 He was the father of seven sons and three daughters.

14 He called the oldest daughter Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the youngest Keren Happuch.

15 There were no other women in the whole world as beautiful as Job’s daughters. Their father gave them a share of the inheritance along with their brothers.

16 Job lived a hundred and forty years after this, long enough to see his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

17 And then he died at a very great age.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/42-59468d99b1995b3f1b100f9d6c63d19c.mp3?version_id=68—