The Daily Audio Bible
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37 Indeed, [at His thunderings] my heart also trembles and leaps out of its place.
2 Hear, oh, hear the roar of His voice and the sound of rumbling that goes out of His mouth!
3 Under the whole heaven He lets it loose, and His lightning to the ends of the earth.
4 After it His voice roars; He thunders with the voice of His majesty, and He restrains not [His lightnings against His adversaries] when His voice is heard.
5 God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend.
6 For He says to the snow, Fall on the earth; likewise He speaks to the showers and to the downpour of His mighty rains.
7 God seals up (stops, brings to a standstill by severe weather) the hand of every man [and now under His seal their hands are forced to inactivity], that all men whom He has made may know His doings (His sovereign power and their subjection to it).
8 Then the beasts go into dens and remain in their lairs.
9 Out of its chamber comes the whirlwind, and cold from the scattering winds.
10 By the breath of God ice is given, and the breadth of the waters is frozen over.(A)
11 He loads the thick cloud with moisture; He scatters the cloud of His lightning.
12 And it is turned round about by His guidance, that they may do whatever He commands them upon the face of the habitable earth.
13 Whether it be for correction or for His earth [generally] or for His mercy and loving-kindness, He causes it to come.(B)
14 Hear this, O Job; stand still and consider the wondrous works of God.
15 Do you know how God lays His command upon them and causes the lightning of His [storm] cloud to shine?
16 Do you know how the clouds are balanced [and poised in the heavens], the wonderful works of Him Who is perfect in knowledge?
17 [Or] why your garments are hot when He quiets the earth [in sultry summer] with the [oppressive] south wind?
18 Can you along with Him spread out the sky, [which is] strong as a molten mirror?
19 Tell us [Job] with what words of man we may address such a Being; we cannot state our case because we are in the dark [in the presence of the unsearchable God].
20 So shall it be told Him that I wish to speak? If a man speaks, shall he be swallowed up?
21 And now men cannot look upon the light when it is bright in the skies, when the wind has passed and cleared them.
22 Golden brightness and splendor come out of the north; [if men can scarcely look upon it, how much less upon the] terrible splendor and majesty God has upon Himself!
23 Touching the Almighty, we cannot find Him out; He is excellent in power; and to justice and plenteous righteousness He does no violence [He will disregard no right].(C)
24 Men therefore [reverently] fear Him; He regards and respects not any who are wise in heart [in their own understanding and conceit].(D)
38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
2 Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?(E)
3 Gird up now your loins like a man, and I will demand of you, and you declare to Me.
4 Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Declare to Me, if you have and know understanding.
5 Who determined the measures of the earth, if you know? Or who stretched the measuring line upon it?
6 Upon what were the foundations of it fastened, or who laid its cornerstone,
7 When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 Or who shut up the sea with doors when it broke forth and issued out of the womb?—
9 When I made the clouds the garment of it, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it,
10 And marked for it My appointed boundary and set bars and doors,(F)
11 And said, Thus far shall you come and no farther; and here shall your proud waves be stayed?(G)
12 Have you commanded the morning since your days began and caused the dawn to know its place,
13 So that [light] may get hold of the corners of the earth and shake the wickedness [of night] out of it?
14 It is changed like clay into which a seal is pressed; and things stand out like a many-colored garment.
15 From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken.
16 Have you explored the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the doors of deep darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell Me, if you know it all.
19 Where is the [a]way where light dwells? And as for darkness, where is its abode,
20 That you may conduct it to its home, and may know the paths to its house?
21 You must know, since you were born then! Or because you are so extremely old!
22 Have you entered the treasuries of the snow, or have you seen the treasuries of the hail,
23 Which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?(H)
24 By what way is the light distributed, or the east wind spread over the earth?
25 Who has prepared a channel for the torrents of rain, or a path for the thunderbolt,
26 To cause it to rain on the uninhabited land [and] on the desert where no man lives,
27 To satisfy the waste and desolate ground and to cause the tender grass to spring forth?
28 Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?
29 Out of whose womb came the ice? And the hoary frost of heaven, who has given it birth?
30 The waters are congealed like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.
31 Can you bind the chains of [the cluster of stars called] Pleiades, or loose the cords of [the constellation] Orion?
32 Can you lead forth the signs of the zodiac in their season? Or can you guide [the stars of] the Bear with her young?
33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule upon the earth?
34 Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that an abundance of waters may cover you?
35 Can you send lightnings, that they may go and say to you, Here we are?
36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts [or in the dark clouds]? Or who has given understanding to the mind [or to the meteor]?
37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the [water] bottles of the heavens
38 When [heat has caused] the dust to run into a mass and the clods to cleave fast together?
39 Can you [Job] hunt the prey for the lion? Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions
40 When they couch in their dens or lie in wait in their hiding place?
41 Who provides for the raven its prey when its young ones cry to God and wander about for lack of food?
39 Do you know the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth [their young]? [Or] do you observe when the hinds are giving birth? [Do you attend to all this, Job?]
2 Can you number the months that they carry their offspring? Or do you know the time when they are delivered,
3 When they bow themselves, bring forth their young ones, [and] cast out their pains?
4 Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open field; they go forth and return not to them.
5 Who has sent out the wild donkey, giving him his freedom? Or who has loosed the bands of the swift donkey [by which his tame brother is bound—he, the shy, the swift-footed, and the untamable],
6 Whose home I have made the wilderness, and the salt land his dwelling place?
7 He scorns the tumult of the city and hears not the shoutings of the taskmaster.
8 The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.
9 Will the wild ox be willing to serve you, or remain beside your manger?
10 Can you bind the wild ox with a harness to the plow in the furrow? Or will he harrow the furrows for you?
11 Will you trust him because his strength is great, or to him will you leave your labor?
12 Will you depend upon him to bring home your seed and gather the grain of your threshing floor? [Who, Job, was the author of this strange variance in the disposition of animals so alike in appearance? Was it you?]
13 The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, [but] are they the pinions and plumage of love?
14 The ostrich leaves her eggs on the ground and warms them in the dust,
15 Forgetting that a foot may crush them or that the wild beast may trample them.
16 She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers; her labor is in vain because she has no sense of danger [for her unborn brood],
17 For God has deprived her of wisdom, neither has He imparted to her understanding.
18 Yet when she lifts herself up in flight, [so swift is she that] she can laugh to scorn the horse and his rider.
19 Have you given the horse his might? Have you clothed his neck with quivering and a shaking mane?
20 Was it you [Job] who made him to leap like a locust? The majesty of his [snorting] nostrils is terrible.
21 He paws in the valley and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons [of armed men].
22 He mocks at fear and is not dismayed or terrified; neither does he turn back [in battle] from the sword.
23 The quiver rattles upon him, as do the glittering spear and the lance [of his rider].
24 [He seems in running to] devour the ground with fierceness and rage; neither can he stand still at the sound of the [war] trumpet.
25 As often as the trumpet sounds he says, Ha, ha! And he smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
26 Is it by your wisdom [Job] that the hawk soars and stretches her wings toward the south [as winter approaches]?
27 Does the eagle mount up at your command and make his nest on [a] high [inaccessible place]?
28 On the cliff he dwells and remains securely, upon the point of the rock and the stronghold.
29 From there he spies out the prey; and his eyes see it afar off.
30 His young ones suck up blood, and where the slain are, there is he.
13 Yet we have the same spirit of faith as he had who wrote, I have believed, and therefore have I spoken. We too believe, and therefore we speak,(A)
14 Assured that He Who raised up the Lord Jesus will raise us up also with Jesus and bring us [along] with you into His presence.
15 For all [these] things are [taking place] for your sake, so that the more grace (divine favor and spiritual blessing) extends to more and more people and multiplies through the many, the more thanksgiving may increase [and redound] to the glory of God.
16 Therefore we do not become discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is [progressively] decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day after day.
17 For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!],
18 Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting.
5 For we know that if the tent which is our earthly home is destroyed (dissolved), we have from God a building, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 Here indeed, in this [present abode, body], we sigh and groan inwardly, because we yearn to be clothed over [we yearn to put on our celestial body like a garment, to be fitted out] with our heavenly dwelling,
3 So that by putting it on we may not be found naked (without a body).
4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan under the burden and sigh deeply (weighed down, depressed, oppressed)—not that we want to put off the body (the clothing of the spirit), but rather that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal (our dying body) may be swallowed up by life [[a]after the resurrection].
5 Now He Who has fashioned us [preparing and making us fit] for this very thing is God, Who also has given us the [Holy] Spirit as a guarantee [of the fulfillment of His promise].
6 So then, we are always full of good and hopeful and confident courage; we know that while we are at home in the body, we are abroad from the home with the Lord [that is promised us].
7 For we walk by faith [we [b]regulate our lives and conduct ourselves by our conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, with trust and holy fervor; thus we walk] not by sight or appearance.
8 [Yes] we have confident and hopeful courage and are pleased rather to be away from home out of the body and be at home with the Lord.
9 Therefore, whether we are at home [on earth away from Him] or away from home [and with Him], we are constantly ambitious and strive earnestly to be pleasing to Him.
10 For we must all appear and be revealed as we are before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive [his pay] according to what he has done in the body, whether good or evil [considering [c]what his purpose and motive have been, and what he has [d]achieved, been busy with, and given himself and his attention to accomplishing].
9 But now You have cast us off and brought us to dishonor, and You go not out with our armies.
10 You make us to turn back from the enemy, and they who hate us take spoil for themselves.
11 You have made us like sheep intended for mutton and have scattered us in exile among the nations.
12 You sell Your people for nothing, and have not increased Your wealth by their price.
13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, a scoffing and a derision to those who are round about us.
14 You make us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the heads among the people.
15 My dishonor is before me all day long, and shame has covered my face
16 At the words of the taunter and reviler, by reason of the enemy and the revengeful.
17 All this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten You, neither have we been false to Your covenant [which You made with our fathers].
18 Our hearts are not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Your path,
19 Though You have distressingly broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with deep darkness, even with the shadow of death.
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or stretched out our hands to a strange god,
21 Would not God discover this? For He knows the secrets of the heart.
22 No, but for Your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.(A)
23 Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord? Arouse Yourself, cast us not off forever!
24 Why do You hide Your face and forget our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our lives are bowed down to the dust; our bodies cleave to the ground.
26 Rise up! Come to our help, and deliver us for Your mercy’s sake and because of Your steadfast love!
13 The sluggard says, There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation