Job 37

37“At the sound of his thunder, my heart pounds

as if it will jump out of my chest.

²Listen! Listen to the thunder of God’s voice

and to the rumbling that comes from his mouth.

³He turns his lightning loose under the whole sky

and sends it to the farthest parts of the earth.

⁴After that you can hear the roar

when he thunders with a great sound.

He does not hold back the flashing

when his voice is heard.

⁵God’s voice thunders in wonderful ways;

he does great things we cannot understand.

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

and to the shower, ‘Be a heavy rain.’

⁷With it, he stops everyone from working

so everyone knows it is the work of God.

⁸The animals take cover from the rain

and stay in their dens.

⁹The storm comes from where it was stored;

the cold comes with the strong winds.

¹⁰The breath of God makes ice,

and the wide waters become frozen.

¹¹He fills the clouds with water

and scatters his lightning through them.

¹²At his command they swirl around

over the whole earth,

doing whatever he commands.

¹³He uses the clouds to punish people

or to water his earth and show his love.

¹⁴“Job, listen to this:

Stop and notice God’s miracles.

¹⁵Do you know how God controls the clouds

and makes his lightning flash?

¹⁶Do you know how the clouds hang in the sky?

Do you know the miracles of God, who knows everything?

¹⁷You suffer in your clothes

when the land is silenced by the hot, south wind.

¹⁸You cannot stretch out the sky like God

and make it look as hard as polished bronze.

¹⁹Tell us what we should say to him;

we cannot get our arguments ready because we do not have enough understanding.

²⁰Should God be told that I want to speak?

Would a person ask to be swallowed up?

²¹No one can look at the sun

when it is bright in the sky

after the wind has blown all the clouds away.

²²God comes out of the north in golden light,

in overwhelming greatness.

²³The Almighty is too high for us to reach.

He has great strength;

he is always right and never punishes unfairly.

²⁴That is why people honor him;

he does not respect those who say they are wise.”