Job 26

Then Job replied to Bildad and the others. He said, 2 “I am struggling, but you have not really helped me. I am not able to overcome my difficulties, but you have not rescued me. 3 I need good advice, but you have not given me any. You have said many things, but they have not been helpful. 4 I suppose you think that God helped you tell me important things. But God was not really speaking through you. \* 5 {Let me tell you how great God really is.} The spirits of dead people tremble with fear at God. They are deep in the earth, below the waters where the sea creatures live. 6 God knows all about those who are in the place where dead people go. Nothing prevents God from seeing what is there. \* 7 God created the dome of the sky to make an orderly world. God created the dry land where previously there was nowhere for people to live. 8 God uses clouds as containers for rainwater, and he prevents that water from bursting the clouds. \* 9 God can make clouds so thick that even the bright moon cannot shine through them. 10 God has set the horizon in place as the outer edge of the oceans. The horizon is at the place where the sky meets the earth. \* 11 Sometimes even the mountains that hold up the sky shake, as if God were scolding them and they were afraid. 12 God used his power to restrain the oceans; by his skill he destroyed Rahab, the huge sea monster. \* 13 God can make the sky clear by blowing away the clouds. {God brings order everywhere in creation} by overcoming the forces of chaos. 14 But I have described only a little bit of what God does. It is as if we can only hear someone whisper about him. When we hear mighty thunder, we realize that God is far too great for us to understand.” \*