Creation in the Bible: God the Creator

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.

God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness.

God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.

God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”

God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.

God called the expanse “sky”. There was evening and there was morning, a second day.

God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear;” and it was so.

God called the dry land “earth”, and the gathering together of the waters he called “seas”. God saw that it was good.

God said, “Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds in it, on the earth;” and it was so.

The earth yielded grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with their seeds in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.

There was evening and there was morning, a third day.

God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs to mark seasons, days, and years;

and let them be for lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth;” and it was so.

God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars.

God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light to the earth,

and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.

There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

God said, “Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.”

God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good.

God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind;” and it was so.

God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.

God said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.

God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food.

To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;” and it was so.

God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

The heavens, the earth, and all their vast array were finished.

On the seventh day God finished his work which he had done; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.

God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because he rested in it from all his work of creation which he had done.

This is the history of the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.

No plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth. There was not a man to till the ground,

but a mist went up from the earth, and watered the whole surface of the ground.

The LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

The LORD God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed.

Out of the ground the LORD God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

A river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it was parted, and became the source of four rivers.

The name of the first is Pishon: it flows through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

and the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and onyx stone are also there.

The name of the second river is Gihon. It is the same river that flows through the whole land of Cush.

The name of the third river is Hiddekel. This is the one which flows in front of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

The LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

Out of the ground the LORD God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature became its name.

The man gave names to all livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field; but for man there was not found a helper comparable to him.

The LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. As the man slept, he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.

The LORD God made a woman from the rib which he had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.

You will eat bread by the sweat of your face until you return to the ground, for you were taken out of it. For you are dust, and you shall return to dust.”

The man called his wife Eve because she would be the mother of all the living.

Cain knew his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Enoch. He built a city, and named the city after the name of his son, Enoch.

His brother’s name was Jubal, who was the father of all who handle the harp and pipe.

Zillah also gave birth to Tubal Cain, the forger of every cutting instrument of bronze and iron. Tubal Cain’s sister was Naamah.

This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him in God’s likeness.

He created them male and female, and blessed them. On the day they were created, he named them Adam.

Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.

All the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, then he died.

The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God’s sons came in to men’s daughters and had children with them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

The LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground—man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky—for I am sorry that I have made them.”

God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

Of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ship, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.

Of the birds after their kind, of the livestock after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort will come to you, to keep them alive.

Also of the birds of the sky, seven and seven, male and female, to keep seed alive on the surface of all the earth.

In seven days, I will cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. I will destroy every living thing that I have made from the surface of the ground.”

Clean animals, unclean animals, birds, and everything that creeps on the ground

went by pairs to Noah into the ship, male and female, as God commanded Noah.

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the sky’s windows opened.

they, and every animal after its kind, all the livestock after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort.

Pairs from all flesh with the breath of life in them went into the ship to Noah.

The waters rose very high on the earth. All the high mountains that were under the whole sky were covered.

The waters rose fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered.

All flesh died that moved on the earth, including birds, livestock, animals, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man.

All on the dry land, in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died.

Every living thing was destroyed that was on the surface of the ground, including man, livestock, creeping things, and birds of the sky. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ship.

Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, including birds, livestock, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply on the earth.”

Every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, whatever moves on the earth, after their families, went out of the ship.

While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.”

God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth.

The fear of you and the dread of you will be on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the sky. Everything that moves along the ground, and all the fish of the sea, are delivered into your hand.

Every moving thing that lives will be food for you. As I gave you the green herb, I have given everything to you.

But flesh with its life, that is, its blood, you shall not eat.

Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image.

Be fruitful and multiply. Increase abundantly in the earth, and multiply in it.”

and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the livestock, and every animal of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ship, even every animal of the earth.

The rainbow will be in the cloud. I will look at it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”

God said to Noah, “This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.

Now this is the history of the generations of the sons of Noah and of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.

Of these were the islands of the nations divided in their lands, everyone after his language, after their families, in their nations.

Out of that land he went into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah,

and Resen between Nineveh and the great city Calah.

the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites,

the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites,

the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the families of the Canaanites were spread abroad.

The border of the Canaanites was from Sidon—as you go towards Gerar—to Gaza—as you go towards Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim—to Lasha.

These are the sons of Ham, after their families, according to their languages, in their lands and their nations.

Children were also born to Shem (the elder brother of Japheth), the father of all the children of Eber.

The sons of Shem were: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram.

The sons of Aram were: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.

Arpachshad became the father of Shelah. Shelah became the father of Eber.

To Eber were born two sons. The name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided. His brother’s name was Joktan.

These are the sons of Shem, by their families, according to their languages, lands, and nations.

These are the families of the sons of Noah, by their generations, according to their nations. The nations divided from these in the earth after the flood.

The whole earth was of one language and of one speech.

They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.”

The LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built.

Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well-watered everywhere, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar.

He blessed him, and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth.

Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted up my hand to the LORD, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth,

The LORD brought him outside, and said, “Look now towards the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So your offspring will be.”

The LORD’s angel appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the middle of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burnt with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

The LORD said to him, “Who made man’s mouth? Or who makes one mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Isn’t it I, the LORD?

The flax and the barley were struck, for the barley had ripened and the flax was blooming.

But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they had not grown up.

and they shall cover the surface of the earth, so that one won’t be able to see the earth. They shall eat the residue of that which has escaped, which remains to you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which grows for you out of the field.

“You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.

They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was like a paved work of sapphire stone, like the skies for clearness.

and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, for the six branches going out of the lamp stand.

“Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with cherubim. You shall make them with the work of a skilful workman.

“You shall make a screen for the door of the Tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer.

You shall make for the screen five pillars of acacia, and overlay them with gold. Their hooks shall be of gold. You shall cast five sockets of bronze for them.

“You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long, and five cubits wide. The altar shall be square. Its height shall be three cubits.

You shall make its horns on its four corners. Its horns shall be of one piece with it. You shall overlay it with bronze.

You shall make its pots to take away its ashes; and its shovels, its basins, its meat hooks, and its fire pans. You shall make all its vessels of bronze.

You shall make a grating for it of network of bronze. On the net you shall make four bronze rings in its four corners.

You shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze.

It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.’”

The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

For as to the life of all flesh, its blood is with its life. Therefore I said to the children of Israel, “You shall not eat the blood of any kind of flesh; for the life of all flesh is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off.”

For your livestock also, and for the animals that are in your land, shall all its increase be for food.

This was the workmanship of the lamp stand, beaten work of gold. From its base to its flowers, it was beaten work. He made the lamp stand according to the pattern which the LORD had shown Moses.

As valleys they are spread out, as gardens by the riverside, as aloes which the LORD has planted, as cedar trees beside the waters.

the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky,

the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth;

and lest you lift up your eyes to the sky, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the army of the sky, you are drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole sky.

For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and from the one end of the sky to the other, whether there has been anything as great as this thing is, or has been heard like it?

“You shall not make a carved image for yourself—any likeness of what is in heaven above, or what is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

Behold, to the LORD your God belongs heaven, the heaven of heavens, and the earth, with all that is therein.

but the land that you go over to possess is a land of hills and valleys which drinks water from the rain of the sky,

When you shall besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them; for you may eat of them. You shall not cut them down, for is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged by you?

The LORD will open to you his good treasure in the sky, to give the rain of your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You will lend to many nations, and you will not borrow.

Your sky that is over your head will be bronze, and the earth that is under you will be iron.

The LORD will make the rain of your land powder and dust. It will come down on you from the sky, until you are destroyed.

Give ear, you heavens, and I will speak. Let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

Is this the way you repay the LORD, foolish and unwise people? Isn’t he your father who has bought you? He has made you and established you.

When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the children of men, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel.

Of the Rock who became your father, you are unmindful, and have forgotten God who gave you birth.

About Joseph he said, “His land is blessed by the LORD, for the precious things of the heavens, for the dew, for the deep that couches beneath,

for the precious things of the fruits of the sun, for the precious things that the moon can yield,

for the best things of the ancient mountains, for the precious things of the everlasting hills,

for the precious things of the earth and its fullness, the good will of him who lived in the bush. Let this come on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the head of him who was separated from his brothers.

“LORD, when you went out of Seir, when you marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the sky also dropped. Yes, the clouds dropped water.

The mountains quaked at the LORD’s presence, even Sinai at the presence of the LORD, the God of Israel.

He raises up the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the needy from the dunghill to make them sit with princes and inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s. He has set the world on them.

He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet.

He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he was seen on the wings of the wind.

He made darkness a shelter around himself, gathering of waters, and thick clouds of the skies.

At the brightness before him, coals of fire were kindled.

Then the channels of the sea appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare by the LORD’s rebuke, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

shall be as the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, when the tender grass springs out of the earth, through clear shining after rain.’

He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows out of the wall; he also spoke of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish.

Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits was the length of the other wing of the cherub. From the tip of one wing to the tip of the other was ten cubits.

He carved all the walls of the house around with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, inside and outside.

So he made two doors of olive wood; and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold. He spread the gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.

He carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold fitted on the engraved work.

He made the hall of pillars. Its length was fifty cubits and its width thirty cubits, with a porch before them, and pillars and a threshold before them.

All these were of costly stones, even of stone cut according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside, even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court.

The foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits.

Above were costly stones, even cut stone, according to measure, and cedar wood.

The great court around had three courses of cut stone with a course of cedar beams, like the inner court of the LORD’s house and the porch of the house.

For he fashioned the two pillars of bronze, eighteen cubits high apiece; and a line of twelve cubits encircled either of them.

He made two capitals of molten bronze to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits.

There were nets of checker work and wreaths of chain work for the capitals which were on the top of the pillars: seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital.

So he made the pillars; and there were two rows of pomegranates around the one network, to cover the capitals that were on the top of the pillars; and he did so for the other capital.

The capitals that were on the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily work, four cubits.

There were capitals above also on the two pillars, close by the belly which was beside the network. There were two hundred pomegranates in rows around the other capital.

On the tops of the pillars was lily work. So the work of the pillars was finished.

He made the molten sea ten cubits from brim to brim, round in shape. Its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it.

Under its brim around there were buds which encircled it for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The buds were in two rows, cast when it was cast.

It stood on twelve oxen, three looking towards the north, and three looking towards the west, and three looking towards the south, and three looking towards the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hindquarters were inward.

It was a hand width thick. Its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths.

He made the ten bases of bronze. The length of one base was four cubits, four cubits its width, and three cubits its height.

The work of the bases was like this: they had panels; and there were panels between the ledges;

and on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim; and on the ledges there was a pedestal above; and beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work.

Every base had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze; and its four feet had supports. The supports were cast beneath the basin, with wreaths at the side of each.

Its opening within the capital and above was a cubit. Its opening was round like the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half; and also on its opening were engravings, and their panels were square, not round.

The four wheels were underneath the panels; and the axles of the wheels were in the base. The height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit.

The work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel. Their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all of cast metal.

There were four supports at the four corners of each base. Its supports were of the base itself.

In the top of the base there was a round band half a cubit high; and on the top of the base its supports and its panels were the same.

On the plates of its supports and on its panels, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, each in its space, with wreaths all around.

The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan.

But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house that I have built!

Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, “LORD, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

Haven’t you heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps.

Therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops and like grain blasted before it has grown up.

The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases, which Solomon had made for the LORD’s house, the bronze of all these vessels was not weighed.

The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a capital of bronze was on it. The height of the capital was three cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital around it, all of bronze; and the second pillar with its network was like these.

Adam, Seth, Enosh,

Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared,

Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech,

Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Diphath, and Togarmah.

The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.

To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan.

For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.

Tremble before him, all the earth. The world also is established that it can’t be moved.

Let the sea roar, and its fullness! Let the field exult, and all that is in it!

Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth.

But who is able to build him a house, since heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain him? Who am I then, that I should build him a house, except just to burn incense before him?

Huram continued, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who has given to David the king a wise son, endowed with discretion and understanding, who would build a house for the LORD and a house for his kingdom.

The wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits long: the wing of the one was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub.

The wing of the other cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was five cubits, joining to the wing of the other cherub.

The wings of these cherubim spread themselves out twenty cubits. They stood on their feet, and their faces were towards the house.

He made the veil of blue, purple, crimson, and fine linen, and ornamented it with cherubim.

Also he made before the house two pillars thirty-five cubits high, and the capital that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.

He made chains in the inner sanctuary, and put them on the tops of the pillars; and he made one hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains.

He set up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hand Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.

Then he made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and ten cubits high.

Also he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim. It was round, five cubits high, and thirty cubits in circumference.

Under it was the likeness of oxen, which encircled it, for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The oxen were in two rows, cast when it was cast.

It stood on twelve oxen, three looking towards the north, three looking towards the west, three looking towards the south, and three looking towards the east; and the sea was set on them above, and all their hindquarters were inward.

It was a handbreadth thick. Its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It received and held three thousand baths.

the two pillars, the bowls, the two capitals which were on the top of the pillars, the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars,

and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks—two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars.

He also made the bases, and he made the basins on the bases—

one sea, and the twelve oxen under it.

Huram-abi also made the pots, the shovels, the forks, and all its vessels for King Solomon, for the LORD’s house, of bright bronze.

The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah.

Thus Solomon made all these vessels in great abundance, so that the weight of the bronze could not be determined.

Solomon made all the vessels that were in God’s house: the golden altar, the tables with the show bread on them,

and the lamp stands with their lamps to burn according to the ordinance before the inner sanctuary, of pure gold;

and the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs of gold that was purest gold;

and the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and the fire pans of pure gold. As for the entry of the house, its inner doors for the most holy place and the doors of the main hall of the temple were of gold.

“But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house which I have built!

They spoke of the God of Jerusalem as of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men’s hands.

You are the LORD, even you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their army, the earth and all things that are on it, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve them all. The army of heaven worships you.

How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth!

who does great things that can’t be fathomed, marvellous things without number;

who gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on the fields;

For you will be allied with the stones of the field. The animals of the field will be at peace with you.

Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass? Or does the ox low over his fodder?

which are black by reason of the ice, in which the snow hides itself.

What is man, that you should magnify him, that you should set your mind on him,

“Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes grow without water?

While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down, it withers before any other reed.

He is green before the sun. His shoots go out along his garden.

His roots are wrapped around the rock pile. He sees the place of stones.

Behold, this is the joy of his way. Out of the earth, others will spring.

He shakes the earth out of its place. Its pillars tremble.

He commands the sun and it doesn’t rise, and seals up the stars.

He alone stretches out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea.

He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the rooms of the south.

He does great things past finding out; yes, marvellous things without number.

Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and smile on the counsel of the wicked?

“‘Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether, yet you destroy me.

Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again?

Haven’t you poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese?

You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.

They are high as heaven. What can you do? They are deeper than Sheol. What can you know?

Its measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.

“But ask the animals now, and they will teach you; the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.

Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you. The fish of the sea will declare to you.

Who doesn’t know that in all these, the LORD’s hand has done this,

in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?

Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up. Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.

yet through the scent of water it will bud, and sprout boughs like a plant.

As the waters fail from the sea, and the river wastes and dries up,

so man lies down and doesn’t rise. Until the heavens are no more, they will not awake, nor be roused out of their sleep.

“But the mountain falling comes to nothing. The rock is removed out of its place.

“Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought out before the hills?

Don’t you know this from old time, since man was placed on earth,

“Isn’t God in the heights of heaven? See the height of the stars, how high they are!

Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn’t see. He walks on the vault of the sky.’

Behold, even the moon has no brightness, and the stars are not pure in his sight;

“The departed spirits tremble, those beneath the waters and all that live in them.

Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.

He stretches out the north over empty space, and hangs the earth on nothing.

He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not burst under them.

He encloses the face of his throne, and spreads his cloud on it.

He has described a boundary on the surface of the waters, and to the confines of light and darkness.

The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his rebuke.

He stirs up the sea with his power, and by his understanding he strikes through Rahab.

By his Spirit the heavens are garnished. His hand has pierced the swift serpent.

Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways. How small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

(for the length of my life is still in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils);

“Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold which they refine.

Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted out of the ore.

Man sets an end to darkness, and searches out, to the furthest bound, the stones of obscurity and of thick darkness.

He breaks open a shaft away from where people live. They are forgotten by the foot. They hang far from men, they swing back and forth.

As for the earth, out of it comes bread. Underneath it is turned up as it were by fire.

Sapphires come from its rocks. It has dust of gold.

That path no bird of prey knows, neither has the falcon’s eye seen it.

The proud animals have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lion passed by there.

He puts his hand on the flinty rock, and he overturns the mountains by the roots.

He cuts out channels amongst the rocks. His eye sees every precious thing.

He binds the streams that they don’t trickle. The thing that is hidden he brings out to light.

For he looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole sky.

He establishes the force of the wind. Yes, he measures out the waters by measure.

When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder,

then he saw it, and declared it. He established it, yes, and searched it out.

Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him? Didn’t one fashion us in the womb?

if I have seen the sun when it shined, or the moon moving in splendour,

The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

Behold, I am towards God even as you are. I am also formed out of the clay.

Who put him in charge of the earth? Or who has appointed him over the whole world?

If he set his heart on himself, if he gathered to himself his spirit and his breath,

all flesh would perish together, and man would turn again to dust.

He doesn’t respect the persons of princes, nor respect the rich more than the poor, for they all are the work of his hands.

Look to the skies, and see. See the skies, which are higher than you.

But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,

who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’

“Remember that you magnify his work, about which men have sung.

All men have looked on it. Man sees it afar off.

Behold, God is great, and we don’t know him. The number of his years is unsearchable.

For he draws up the drops of water, which distill in rain from his vapour,

which the skies pour down and which drop on man abundantly.

Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds and the thunderings of his pavilion?

Behold, he spreads his light around him. He covers the bottom of the sea.

He covers his hands with the lightning, and commands it to strike the mark.

Its noise tells about him, and the livestock also, concerning the storm that comes up.

He sends it out under the whole sky, and his lightning to the ends of the earth.

God thunders marvellously with his voice. He does great things, which we can’t comprehend.

For he says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ likewise to the shower of rain, and to the showers of his mighty rain.

He seals up the hand of every man, that all men whom he has made may know it.

Then the animals take cover, and remain in their dens.

Out of its room comes the storm, and cold out of the north.

By the breath of God, ice is given, and the width of the waters is frozen.

Yes, he loads the thick cloud with moisture. He spreads abroad the cloud of his lightning.

It is turned around by his guidance, that they may do whatever he commands them on the surface of the habitable world,

Do you know how God controls them, and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?

Do you know the workings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge?

You whose clothing is warm when the earth is still by reason of the south wind?

Can you, with him, spread out the sky, which is strong as a cast metal mirror?

Now men don’t see the light which is bright in the skies, but the wind passes, and clears them.

Out of the north comes golden splendour. With God is awesome majesty.

“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding.

Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it?

What were its foundations fastened on? Or who laid its cornerstone,

when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

“Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke out of the womb,

when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness,

marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors,

and said, ‘You may come here, but no further. Your proud waves shall be stopped here’?

“Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place,

that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it?

It is changed as clay under the seal, and presented as a garment.

“Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?

Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

Have you comprehended the earth in its width? Declare, if you know it all.

“What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place,

that you should take it to its bound, that you should discern the paths to its house?

Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!

Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

By what way is the lightning distributed, or the east wind scattered on the earth?

Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm,

to cause it to rain on a land where there is no man, on the wilderness, in which there is no man,

to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to grow?

Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew?

Whose womb did the ice come out of? Who has given birth to the grey frost of the sky?

The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen.

“Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?

Can you lead the constellations out in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs?

Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish its dominion over the earth?

“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover you?

Can you send out lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?

Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind?

Who can count the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the containers of the sky,

when the dust runs into a mass, and the clods of earth stick together?

“Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

when they crouch in their dens, and lie in wait in the thicket?

Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?

“Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears fawns?

Can you count the months that they fulfil? Or do you know the time when they give birth?

They bow themselves. They bear their young. They end their labour pains.

Their young ones become strong. They grow up in the open field. They go out, and don’t return again.

“Who has set the wild donkey free? Or who has loosened the bonds of the swift donkey,

whose home I have made the wilderness, and the salt land his dwelling place?

He scorns the tumult of the city, neither does he hear the shouting of the driver.

The range of the mountains is his pasture. He searches after every green thing.

“Will the wild ox be content to serve you? Or will he stay by your feeding trough?

Can you hold the wild ox in the furrow with his harness? Or will he till the valleys after you?

“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the feathers and plumage of love?

For she leaves her eggs on the earth, warms them in the dust,

and forgets that the foot may crush them, or that the wild animal may trample them.

“Have you given the horse might? Have you clothed his neck with a quivering mane?

Have you made him to leap as a locust? The glory of his snorting is awesome.

“Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and stretches her wings towards the south?

Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up, and makes his nest on high?

On the cliff he dwells and makes his home, on the point of the cliff and the stronghold.

From there he spies out the prey. His eyes see it afar off.

His young ones also suck up blood. Where the slain are, there he is.”

Or do you have an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like him?

“See now behemoth, which I made as well as you. He eats grass as an ox.

Look now, his strength is in his thighs. His force is in the muscles of his belly.

He moves his tail like a cedar. The sinews of his thighs are knit together.

His bones are like tubes of bronze. His limbs are like bars of iron.

He is the chief of the ways of God. He who made him gives him his sword.

Surely the mountains produce food for him, where all the animals of the field play.

He lies under the lotus trees, in the covert of the reed, and the marsh.

The lotuses cover him with their shade. The willows of the brook surround him.

Behold, if a river overflows, he doesn’t tremble. He is confident, though the Jordan swells even to his mouth.

Shall any take him when he is on the watch, or pierce through his nose with a snare?

“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook, or press down his tongue with a cord?

Can you put a rope into his nose, or pierce his jaw through with a hook?

Will he make many petitions to you, or will he speak soft words to you?

Will he make a covenant with you, that you should take him for a servant forever?

Will you play with him as with a bird? Or will you bind him for your girls?

Will traders barter for him? Will they part him amongst the merchants?

Can you fill his skin with barbed irons, or his head with fish spears?

Lay your hand on him. Remember the battle, and do so no more.

Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Everything under the heavens is mine.

His sneezing flashes out light. His eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

Out of his mouth go burning torches. Sparks of fire leap out.

Out of his nostrils a smoke goes, as of a boiling pot over a fire of reeds.

His breath kindles coals. A flame goes out of his mouth.

He makes a path shine after him. One would think the deep had white hair.

On earth there is not his equal, that is made without fear.

He sees everything that is high. He is king over all the sons of pride.”

For the Chief Musician; on an instrument of Gath. A Psalm by David. LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens!

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained,

what is man, that you think of him? What is the son of man, that you care for him?

For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honour.

You make him ruler over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet:

All sheep and cattle, yes, and the animals of the field,

the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Then the channels of waters appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, LORD, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. The heavens declare the glory of God. The expanse shows his handiwork.

Day after day they pour out speech, and night after night they display knowledge.

There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.

Their voice has gone out through all the earth, their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun,

which is as a bridegroom coming out of his room, like a strong man rejoicing to run his course.

His going out is from the end of the heavens, his circuit to its ends. There is nothing hidden from its heat.

A Psalm by David. The earth is the LORD’s, with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell in it.

For he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the floods.

The LORD’s voice is on the waters. The God of glory thunders, even the LORD on many waters.

The LORD’s voice breaks the cedars. Yes, the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.

He makes them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young, wild ox.

The LORD’s voice strikes with flashes of lightning.

The LORD’s voice shakes the wilderness. The LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

The LORD’s voice makes the deer calve, and strips the forests bare. In his temple everything says, “Glory!”

By the LORD’s word, the heavens were made: all their army by the breath of his mouth.

He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap. He lays up the deeps in storehouses.

For he spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood firm.

he who fashions all of their hearts; and he considers all of their works.

Behold, you have made my days hand widths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath.” Selah.

A Psalm by Asaph. The Mighty One, God, the LORD, speaks, and calls the earth from sunrise to sunset.

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines out.

He calls to the heavens above, to the earth, that he may judge his people:

The heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah.

For every animal of the forest is mine, and the livestock on a thousand hills.

I know all the birds of the mountains. The wild animals of the field are mine.

If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.

By your power, you form the mountains, having armed yourself with strength.

You still the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations.

They also who dwell in faraway places are afraid at your wonders. You call the morning’s dawn and the evening with songs of joy.

You visit the earth, and water it. You greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of water. You provide them grain, for so you have ordained it.

You drench its furrows. You level its ridges. You soften it with showers. You bless it with a crop.

The wilderness grasslands overflow. The hills are clothed with gladness.

The pastures are covered with flocks. The valleys also are clothed with grain. They shout for joy! They also sing.

The mountains of Bashan are majestic mountains. The mountains of Bashan are rugged.

Let heaven and earth praise him; the seas, and everything that moves therein!

Abundance of grain shall be throughout the land. Its fruit sways like Lebanon. Let it flourish, thriving like the grass of the field.

You divided the sea by your strength. You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.

You opened up spring and stream. You dried up mighty rivers.

The day is yours, the night is also yours. You have prepared the light and the sun.

You have set all the boundaries of the earth. You have made summer and winter.

The earth and all its inhabitants quake. I firmly hold its pillars. Selah.

The waters saw you, God. The waters saw you, and they writhed. The depths also convulsed.

The clouds poured out water. The skies resounded with thunder. Your arrows also flashed around.

The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind. The lightnings lit up the world. The earth trembled and shook.

Your way was through the sea, your paths through the great waters. Your footsteps were not known.

Yet he commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven.

He caused the east wind to blow in the sky. By his power he guided the south wind.

He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes away, and doesn’t come again.

He built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which he has established forever.

All nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord. They shall glorify your name.

I indeed declare, “Love stands firm forever. You established the heavens. Your faithfulness is in them.”

The heavens are yours. The earth also is yours, the world and its fullness. You have founded them.

You have created the north and the south. Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name.

Before the mountains were born, before you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.

You sweep them away as they sleep. In the morning they sprout like new grass.

In the morning it sprouts and springs up. By evening, it is withered and dry.

For you, LORD, have made me glad through your work. I will triumph in the works of your hands.

How great are your works, LORD! Your thoughts are very deep.

The LORD reigns! He is clothed with majesty! The LORD is armed with strength. The world also is established. It can’t be moved.

The floods have lifted up, LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their waves.

Above the voices of many waters, the mighty breakers of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty.

He who implanted the ear, won’t he hear? He who formed the eye, won’t he see?

In his hand are the deep places of the earth. The heights of the mountains are also his.

The sea is his, and he made it. His hands formed the dry land.

For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice. Let the sea roar, and its fullness!

Let the field and all that is in it exult! Then all the trees of the woods shall sing for joy

His lightning lights up the world. The earth sees, and trembles.

The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.

The heavens declare his righteousness. All the peoples have seen his glory.

Let the sea roar with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell therein.

Let the rivers clap their hands. Let the mountains sing for joy together.

Know that the LORD, he is God. It is he who has made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

This will be written for the generation to come. A people which will be created will praise the LORD,

Of old, you laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens are the work of your hands.

For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.

For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more.

Praise the LORD, all you works of his, in all places of his dominion. Praise the LORD, my soul!

He covers himself with light as with a garment. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.

He lays the beams of his rooms in the waters. He makes the clouds his chariot. He walks on the wings of the wind.

He makes his messengers winds, and his servants flames of fire.

He laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be moved forever.

You covered it with the deep as with a cloak. The waters stood above the mountains.

At your rebuke they fled. At the voice of your thunder they hurried away.

The mountains rose, the valleys sank down, to the place which you had assigned to them.

You have set a boundary that they may not pass over, that they don’t turn again to cover the earth.

He sends springs into the valleys. They run amongst the mountains.

They give drink to every animal of the field. The wild donkeys quench their thirst.

The birds of the sky nest by them. They sing amongst the branches.

He waters the mountains from his rooms. The earth is filled with the fruit of your works.

He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth:

The LORD’s trees are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon, which he has planted,

where the birds make their nests. The stork makes its home in the cypress trees.

The high mountains are for the wild goats. The rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.

He appointed the moon for seasons. The sun knows when to set.

You make darkness, and it is night, in which all the animals of the forest prowl.

The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their food from God.

The sun rises, and they steal away, and lie down in their dens.

Man goes out to his work, to his labour until the evening.

LORD, how many are your works! In wisdom, you have made them all. The earth is full of your riches.

There is the sea, great and wide, in which are innumerable living things, both small and large animals.

There the ships go, and leviathan, whom you formed to play there.

You hide your face; they are troubled. You take away their breath; they die and return to the dust.

You send out your Spirit and they are created. You renew the face of the ground.

Let the LORD’s glory endure forever. Let the LORD rejoice in his works.

He looks at the earth, and it trembles. He touches the mountains, and they smoke.

these see the LORD’s deeds, and his wonders in the deep.

For he commands, and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up its waves.

He turns rivers into a desert, water springs into a thirsty ground,

He turns a desert into a pool of water, and a dry land into water springs.

From the rising of the sun to its going down, the LORD’s name is to be praised.

who stoops down to see in heaven and in the earth?

The sea saw it, and fled. The Jordan was driven back.

The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs.

What was it, you sea, that you fled? You Jordan, that you turned back?

You mountains, that you skipped like rams? You little hills, like lambs?

who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of waters.

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.

Blessed are you by the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

The heavens are the LORD’s heavens, but he has given the earth to the children of men.

This is the day that the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it!

The earth is full of your loving kindness, LORD. Teach me your statutes.

YODH Your hands have made me and formed me. Give me understanding, that I may learn your commandments.

Your faithfulness is to all generations. You have established the earth, and it remains.

Your laws remain to this day, for all things serve you.

My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

Our help is in the LORD’s name, who made heaven and earth.

May the LORD bless you from Zion, even he who made heaven and earth.

Whatever the LORD pleased, that he has done, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.

He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings with the rain. He brings the wind out of his treasuries.

The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.

They have mouths, but they can’t speak. They have eyes, but they can’t see.

They have ears, but they can’t hear, neither is there any breath in their mouths.

to him who by understanding made the heavens, for his loving kindness endures forever;

to him who spread out the earth above the waters, for his loving kindness endures forever;

to him who made the great lights, for his loving kindness endures forever;

the sun to rule by day, for his loving kindness endures forever;

the moon and stars to rule by night, for his loving kindness endures forever;

who gives food to every creature, for his loving kindness endures forever.

For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.

My frame wasn’t hidden from you, when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.

I remember the days of old. I meditate on all your doings. I contemplate the work of your hands.

LORD, what is man, that you care for him? Or the son of man, that you think of him?

Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away.

The LORD is good to all. His tender mercies are over all his works.

who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps truth forever;

He counts the number of the stars. He calls them all by their names.

who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass grow on the mountains.

He provides food for the livestock, and for the young ravens when they call.

He gives snow like wool, and scatters frost like ashes.

He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can stand before his cold?

He sends out his word, and melts them. He causes his wind to blow, and the waters flow.

Praise him, sun and moon! Praise him, all you shining stars!

Praise him, you heavens of heavens, you waters that are above the heavens.

Let them praise the LORD’s name, for he commanded, and they were created.

He has also established them forever and ever. He has made a decree which will not pass away.

Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures, and all depths,

lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy wind, fulfilling his word,

mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars,

wild animals and all livestock, small creatures and flying birds,

Let Israel rejoice in him who made them. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!

By wisdom the LORD founded the earth. By understanding, he established the heavens.

By his knowledge, the depths were broken up, and the skies drop down the dew.

“The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his work, before his deeds of old.

I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth existed.

When there were no depths, I was born, when there were no springs abounding with water.

Before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was born;

while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust of the world.

When he established the heavens, I was there. When he set a circle on the surface of the deep,

when he established the clouds above, when the springs of the deep became strong,

when he gave to the sea its boundary, that the waters should not violate his commandment, when he marked out the foundations of the earth,

then I was the craftsman by his side. I was a delight day by day, always rejoicing before him,

rejoicing in his whole world. My delight was with the sons of men.

Wisdom has built her house. She has carved out her seven pillars.

The LORD has made everything for its own end— yes, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Whoever mocks the poor reproaches his Maker. He who is glad at calamity shall not be unpunished.

The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD has made even both of them.

As the heavens for height, and the earth for depth, so the hearts of kings are unsearchable.

The hay is removed, and the new growth appears, the grasses of the hills are gathered in.

The poor man and the oppressor have this in common: The LORD gives sight to the eyes of both.

Who has ascended up into heaven, and descended? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has bound the waters in his garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s name, if you know?

The way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship in the middle of the sea, and the way of a man with a maiden.

One generation goes, and another generation comes; but the earth remains forever.

The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hurries to its place where it rises.

The wind goes towards the south, and turns around to the north. It turns around continually as it goes, and the wind returns again to its courses.

All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, there they flow again.

I made myself gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit.

I made myself pools of water, to water the forest where trees were grown.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their hearts, yet so that man can’t find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end.

For that which happens to the sons of men happens to animals. Even one thing happens to them. As the one dies, so the other dies. Yes, they have all one breath; and man has no advantage over the animals, for all is vanity.

All go to one place. All are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.

Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, whether it goes downward to the earth?”

Consider the work of God, for who can make that straight which he has made crooked?

Behold, I have only found this: that God made mankind upright; but they search for many inventions.”

If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth; and if a tree falls towards the south, or towards the north, in the place where the tree falls, there shall it be.

As you don’t know what is the way of the wind, nor how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child; even so you don’t know the work of God who does all.

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw near, when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them;”

and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

The flowers appear on the earth. The time of the singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

The fig tree ripens her green figs. The vines are in blossom. They give out their fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.”

I went down into the nut tree grove, to see the green plants of the valley, to see whether the vine budded, and the pomegranates were in flower.

The LORD will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night, for over all the glory will be a canopy.

One called to another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!”

For the stars of the sky and its constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going out, and the moon will not cause its light to shine.

Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place in the LORD of Armies’ wrath, and in the day of his fierce anger.

Yes, the cypress trees rejoice with you, with the cedars of Lebanon, saying, “Since you are humbled, no lumberjack has come up against us.”

Ah, the land of the rustling of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia;

that sends ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of papyrus on the waters, saying, “Go, you swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people awesome from their beginning onward, a nation that measures out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide!”

They will be left together for the ravenous birds of the mountains, and for the animals of the earth. The ravenous birds will eat them in the summer, and all the animals of the earth will eat them in the winter.

The waters will fail from the sea, and the river will be wasted and become dry.

You turn things upside down! Should the potter be thought to be like clay, that the thing made should say about him who made it, “He didn’t make me;” or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

Come near, you nations, to hear! Listen, you peoples. Let the earth and all it contains hear, the world, and everything that comes from it.

All of the army of the sky will be dissolved. The sky will be rolled up like a scroll, and all its armies will fade away, as a leaf fades from off a vine or a fig tree.

The arrow snake will make her nest there, and lay, hatch, and gather under her shade. Yes, the kites will be gathered there, every one with her mate.

The wilderness and the dry land will be glad. The desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.

“LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, who is enthroned amongst the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

“‘Have you not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it in ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to destroy fortified cities, turning them into ruinous heaps.

Therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like a field before its crop has grown.

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.

He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skilful workman to set up a carved image for him that will not be moved.

Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? Haven’t you been told from the beginning? Haven’t you understood from the foundations of the earth?

It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in,

They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.

Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. By the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is lacking.

Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint. He isn’t weary. His understanding is unsearchable.

Who has worked and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, the first, and with the last, I am he.”

I will open rivers on the bare heights, and springs in the middle of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.

I will put cedar, acacia, myrtle, and oil trees in the wilderness. I will set cypress trees, pine, and box trees together in the desert;

that they may see, know, consider, and understand together, that the LORD’s hand has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.

God the LORD, he who created the heavens and stretched them out, he who spread out the earth and that which comes out of it, he who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk in it, says:

Sing to the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is therein, the islands and their inhabitants.

I will destroy mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs. I will make the rivers islands, and will dry up the pools.

But now the LORD who created you, Jacob, and he who formed you, Israel, says: “Don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine.

everyone who is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, yes, whom I have made.’”

I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.”

Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs out now. Don’t you know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

the people which I formed for myself, that they might declare my praise.

This is what the LORD who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you says: “Don’t be afraid, Jacob my servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

The carpenter stretches out a line. He marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes. He marks it out with compasses, and shapes it like the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to reside in a house.

He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak, and strengthens for himself one amongst the trees of the forest. He plants a cypress tree, and the rain nourishes it.

The LORD, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb says: “I am the LORD, who makes all things; who alone stretches out the heavens; who spreads out the earth by myself;

who says to the deep, ‘Be dry,’ and ‘I will dry up your rivers,’

I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create calamity. I am the LORD, who does all these things.

Rain, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open, that it may produce salvation, and let it cause righteousness to spring up with it. I, the LORD, have created it.

Woe to him who strives with his Maker— a clay pot amongst the clay pots of the earth! Shall the clay ask him who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’ or your work, ‘He has no hands’?

The LORD, the Holy One of Israel and his Maker says: “You ask me about the things that are to come, concerning my sons, and you command me concerning the work of my hands!

I have made the earth, and created man on it. I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens. I have commanded all their army.

For the LORD who created the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, who established it and didn’t create it a waste, who formed it to be inhabited says: “I am the LORD. There is no other.

They are created now, and not from of old. Before today, you didn’t hear them, lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’

Yes, my hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spread out the heavens. when I call to them, they stand up together.

Now the LORD, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, says to bring Jacob again to him, and to gather Israel to him, for I am honourable in the LORD’s eyes, and my God has become my strength.

Why, when I came, was there no one? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it can’t redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea. I make the rivers a wilderness. Their fish stink because there is no water, and die of thirst.

I clothe the heavens with blackness. I make sackcloth their covering.”

For the LORD has comforted Zion. He has comforted all her waste places, and has made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in them, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

Have you forgotten the LORD your Maker, who stretched out the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth? Do you live in fear continually all day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he prepares to destroy? Where is the fury of the oppressor?

For I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar. the LORD of Armies is his name.

I have put my words in your mouth and have covered you in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and tell Zion, ‘You are my people.’”

For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

“Behold, I have created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame, and forges a weapon for his work; and I have created the destroyer to destroy.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky, and doesn’t return there, but waters the earth, and makes it grow and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater;

For I will not contend forever, neither will I always be angry; for the spirit would faint before me, and the souls whom I have made.

I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near,” says the LORD; “and I will heal them.”

“The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the cypress tree, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.

For as the earth produces its bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

But now, LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay and you our potter. We all are the work of your hand.

“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered, nor come into mind.

But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem to be a delight, and her people a joy.

The wolf and the lamb will feed together. The lion will eat straw like the ox. Dust will be the serpent’s food. They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the LORD.

The LORD says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build to me? Where will I rest?

For my hand has made all these things, and so all these things came to be,” says the LORD: “but I will look to this man, even to he who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.

Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she gave birth to her children.

“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,” says the LORD, “so your offspring and your name shall remain.

“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a pure and faithful seed. How then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me?

“Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been lain with? You have sat waiting for them by the road, as an Arabian in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness.

I saw the earth and, behold, it was waste and void, and the heavens, and they had no light.

I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth.

I saw, and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the LORD, before his fierce anger.

For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above be black, because I have spoken it. I have planned it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back from it.”

Don’t you fear me?’ says the LORD; ‘Won’t you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass it? Though its waves toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail. Though they roar, they still can’t pass over it.’

Therefore the Lord GOD says: “Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man, on animal, on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and will not be quenched.”

Yes, the stork in the sky knows her appointed times. The turtledove, the swallow, and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people don’t know the LORD’s law.

I will weep and wail for the mountains, and lament for the pastures of the wilderness, because they are burnt up, so that no one passes through; Men can’t hear the voice of the livestock. Both the birds of the sky and the animals have fled. They are gone.

For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe.

They deck it with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and with hammers, so that it can’t move.

But they are together brutish and foolish, instructed by idols! It is just wood.

There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the engraver and of the hands of the goldsmith. Their clothing is blue and purple. They are all the work of skilful men.

“You shall say this to them: ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.’”

God has made the earth by his power. He has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens.

When he utters his voice, the waters in the heavens roar, and he causes the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and brings the wind out of his treasuries.

The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the maker of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. The LORD of Armies is his name.

How long will the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? Because of the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the animals and birds are consumed; because they said, “He won’t see our latter end.”

Is my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey? Are the birds of prey against her all around? Go, assemble all the animals of the field. Bring them to devour.

Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard. They have trodden my portion under foot. They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.

Are there any amongst the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the sky give showers? Aren’t you he, the LORD our God? Therefore we will wait for you; for you have made all these things.

When the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Will the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? Will the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up?

‘I have made the earth, the men, and the animals that are on the surface of the earth by my great power and by my outstretched arm. I give it to whom it seems right to me.

How long will you go here and there, you backsliding daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing in the earth: a woman will encompass a man.”

The LORD, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar— the LORD of Armies is his name, says:

The LORD says: “If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done,” says the LORD.

“Ah Lord GOD! Behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you.

“The LORD who does it, the LORD who forms it to establish it—the LORD is his name, says:

“The LORD says: ‘If you can break my covenant of the day and my covenant of the night, so that there will not be day and night in their time,

The LORD says: “If my covenant of day and night fails, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth,

Therefore the wild animals of the desert with the wolves will dwell there. The ostriches will dwell therein. It will be inhabited no more forever, neither will it be lived in from generation to generation.

As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and its neighbour cities,” says the LORD, “so no man will dwell there, neither will any son of man live therein.

“He has made the earth by his power. He has established the world by his wisdom. By his understanding he has stretched out the heavens.

When he utters his voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and brings the wind out of his treasuries.

The portion of Jacob is not like these, for he formed all things, including the tribe of his inheritance. The LORD of Armies is his name.

Out of its centre came the likeness of four living creatures. This was their appearance: They had the likeness of a man.

Everyone had four faces, and each one of them had four wings.

Their feet were straight feet. The sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot; and they sparkled like burnished bronze.

They had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides. The four of them had their faces and their wings like this:

As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man. The four of them had the face of a lion on the right side. The four of them had the face of an ox on the left side. The four of them also had the face of an eagle.

Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above. Two wings of each one touched another, and two covered their bodies.

As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches. The fire went up and down amongst the living creatures. The fire was bright, and lightning went out of the fire.

The living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

Now as I saw the living creatures, behold, there was one wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, for each of the four faces of it.

The appearance of the wheels and their work was like a beryl. The four of them had one likeness. Their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel within a wheel.

Over the head of the living creature there was the likeness of an expanse, like an awesome crystal to look at, stretched out over their heads above.

The form of a man’s hand appeared here in the cherubim under their wings.

I looked, and behold, there were four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub, and another wheel beside another cherub. The appearance of the wheels was like a beryl stone.

As for their appearance, the four of them had one likeness, like a wheel within a wheel.

Their whole body, including their backs, their hands, their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes all around, even the wheels that the four of them had.

As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing, “the whirling wheels”.

Every one them had four faces. The first face was the face of the cherub. The second face was the face of a man. The third face was the face of a lion. The fourth was the face of an eagle.

The cherubim mounted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river Chebar.

Every one had four faces, and every one four wings. The likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.

“‘“He also took some of the seed of the land and planted it in fruitful soil. He placed it beside many waters. He set it as a willow tree.

It grew and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned towards him, and its roots were under him. So it became a vine, produced branches, and shot out sprigs.

I will plant it in the mountain of the height of Israel; and it will produce boughs, and bear fruit, and be a good cedar. Birds of every kind will dwell in the shade of its branches.

All the trees of the field will know that I, the LORD, have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree flourish. “‘I, the LORD, have spoken and have done it.’”

They have made all your planks of cypress trees from Senir. They have taken a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you.

They have made your oars of the oaks of Bashan. They have made your benches of ivory inlaid in cypress wood from the islands of Kittim.

You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, emerald, chrysolite, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and beryl. Gold work of tambourines and of pipes was in you. They were prepared in the day that you were created.

You were the anointed cherub who covers. Then I set you up on the holy mountain of God. You have walked up and down in the middle of the stones of fire.

You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you.

The land of Egypt will be a desolation and a waste. Then they will know that I am the LORD. “‘“Because he has said, ‘The river is mine, and I have made it,’

therefore, behold, I am against you and against your rivers. I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from the tower of Seveneh even to the border of Ethiopia.

Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches, and with a forest-like shade, of high stature; and its top was amongst the thick boughs.

The waters nourished it. The deep made it to grow. Its rivers ran all around its plantation. It sent out its channels to all the trees of the field.

Therefore its stature was exalted above all the trees of the field; and its boughs were multiplied. Its branches became long by reason of many waters, when it spread them out.

All the birds of the sky made their nests in its boughs. Under its branches, all the animals of the field gave birth to their young. All great nations lived under its shadow.

Thus it was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches; for its root was by many waters.

The cedars in the garden of God could not hide it. The cypress trees were not like its branches. The pine trees were not like its branches; nor was any tree in the garden of God like it in its beauty.

I made it beautiful by the multitude of its branches, so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied it.’

They will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden. The waste, desolate, and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’

so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the animals of the field, all creeping things who creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the surface of the earth will shake at my presence. Then the mountains will be thrown down, the steep places will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground.

It was made with cherubim and palm trees. A palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces,

so that there was the face of a man towards the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion towards the palm tree on the other side. It was made like this through all the house all around.

Cherubim and palm trees were made from the ground to above the door. The wall of the temple was like this.

There were made on them, on the doors of the nave, cherubim and palm trees, like those made on the walls. There was a threshold of wood on the face of the porch outside.

He brought me back to the door of the temple; and behold, waters flowed out from under the threshold of the temple eastward, for the front of the temple faced towards the east. The waters came down from underneath, from the right side of the temple, on the south of the altar.

Now when I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other.

It will happen that every living creature which swarms, in every place where the rivers come, will live. Then there will be a very great multitude of fish; for these waters have come there, and the waters of the sea will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river comes.

By the river banks, on both sides, will grow every tree for food, whose leaf won’t wither, neither will its fruit fail. It will produce new fruit every month, because its waters issue out of the sanctuary. Its fruit will be for food, and its leaf for healing.”

Wherever the children of men dwell, he has given the animals of the field and the birds of the sky into your hand, and has made you rule over them all. You are the head of gold.

These were the visions of my head on my bed: I saw, and behold, a tree in the middle of the earth; and its height was great.

The tree grew and was strong. Its height reached to the sky and its sight to the end of all the earth.

Its leaves were beautiful, and it had much fruit, and in it was food for all. The animals of the field had shade under it, and the birds of the sky lived in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it.

In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the ground. I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them lie down safely.

It will happen in that day, that I will respond,” says the LORD. “I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth;

and the earth will respond to the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they will respond to Jezreel.

Therefore the land will mourn, and everyone who dwells in it will waste away, with all living things in her, even the animals of the field and the birds of the sky; yes, the fish of the sea also die.

The field is laid waste. The land mourns, for the grain is destroyed, The new wine has dried up, and the oil languishes.

Yes, the animals of the field pant to you, for the water brooks have dried up, and the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

A fire devours before them, and behind them, a flame burns. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them, a desolate wilderness. Yes, and no one has escaped them.

The earth quakes before them. The heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

Don’t be afraid, you animals of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness spring up, for the tree bears its fruit. The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.

I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, fire, and pillars of smoke.

The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes.

The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

Will a lion roar in the thicket, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing?

For, behold, he who forms the mountains, creates the wind, declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the high places of the earth: The LORD, the God of Armies, is his name.”

Seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name,

It is he who builds his rooms in the heavens, and has founded his vault on the earth; he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth—the LORD is his name.

He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.”

He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel languish. The flower of Lebanon languishes.

The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, yes, the world, and all who dwell in it.

and make men like the fish of the sea, like the creeping things that have no ruler over them?

God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth.

His splendour is like the sunrise. Rays shine from his hand, where his power is hidden.

He stood, and shook the earth. He looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains were crumbled. The age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal.

You uncovered your bow. You called for your sworn arrows. Selah. You split the earth with rivers.

The mountains saw you, and were afraid. The storm of waters passed by. The deep roared and lifted up its hands on high.

The sun and moon stood still in the sky at the light of your arrows as they went, at the shining of your glittering spear.

I will sweep away man and animal. I will sweep away the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and the heaps of rubble with the wicked. I will cut off man from the surface of the earth, says the LORD.

For this is what the LORD of Armies says: ‘Yet once more, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land;

The angel answered me, “These are the four winds of the sky, which go out from standing before the Lord of all the earth.

A revelation of the LORD’s word concerning Israel: The LORD, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him says:

His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, making a very great valley. Half of the mountain will move towards the north, and half of it towards the south.

It will happen in that day that there will not be light, cold, or frost.

Don’t we all have one father? Hasn’t one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

Jesus, when he was baptised, went up directly from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to him. He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming on him.

For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished.

See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they?

Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin,

yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these.

At that time, Jesus answered, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to infants.

that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”

He answered, “Haven’t you read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female,

“Hear another parable. There was a man who was a master of a household who planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a wine press in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers, and went into another country.

“Now from the fig tree learn this parable: When its branch has now become tender and produces its leaves, you know that the summer is near.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

For the earth bears fruit by itself: first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

Now on the mountainside there was a great herd of pigs feeding.

But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female.

He began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a pit for the wine press, built a tower, rented it out to a farmer, and went into another country.

For in those days there will be oppression, such as there has not been the like from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will be.

But in those days, after that oppression, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light,

the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken.

“Now from the fig tree, learn this parable. When the branch has now become tender and produces its leaves, you know that the summer is near;

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

“We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.’”

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to the whole creation.

the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

You foolish ones, didn’t he who made the outside make the inside also?

Consider the ravens: they don’t sow, they don’t reap, they have no warehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds!

Consider the lilies, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

But if this is how God clothes the grass in the field, which today exists and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith?

He spoke this parable. “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.

He answered them, “I tell you that if these were silent, the stones would cry out.”

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The same was in the beginning with God.

All things were made through him. Without him, nothing was made that has been made.

The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn’t recognise him.

who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

The Word became flesh and lived amongst us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the only born Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

“He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.

He said to them, “You are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world.

Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind.

Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.

Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden. In the garden was a new tomb in which no man had ever yet been laid.

When they heard it, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said, “O Lord, you are God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them;

‘heaven is my throne, and the earth a footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build me?’ says the Lord. ‘Or what is the place of my rest?

Didn’t my hand make all these things?’

He saw heaven opened and a certain container descending to him, like a great sheet let down by four corners on the earth,

in which were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, and birds of the sky.

When I had looked intently at it, I considered, and saw the four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky.

“Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of the same nature as you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to the living God, who made the sky, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them;

The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands.

He isn’t served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath and all things.

He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons and the boundaries of their dwellings,

‘For in him we live, move, and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’

For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity, that they may be without excuse.

and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, four-footed animals, and creeping things.

who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.” This is in the presence of him whom he believed: God, who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not, as though they were.

For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.

For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope

that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.

But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”

Or hasn’t the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel for honour, and another for dishonour?

But I say, didn’t they hear? Yes, most certainly, “Their sound went out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”

For of him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen.

and those who use the world, as not using it to the fullest. For the mode of this world passes away.

yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him.

for “the earth is the Lord’s, and its fullness.”

For a man indeed ought not to have his head covered, because he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man.

For man is not from woman, but woman from man;

for man wasn’t created for the woman, but woman for the man.

For as woman came from man, so a man also comes through a woman; but all things are from God.

Doesn’t even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonour to him?

But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her for a covering.

There are various kinds of workings, but the same God who works all things in all.

There are, it may be, so many kinds of languages in the world, and none of them is without meaning.

You foolish one, that which you yourself sow is not made alive unless it dies.

That which you sow, you don’t sow the body that will be, but a bare grain, maybe of wheat, or of some other kind.

But God gives it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own.

All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.

There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial differs from that of the terrestrial.

There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.

It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is also a spiritual body.

So also it is written, “The first man Adam became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

However, that which is spiritual isn’t first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual.

The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven.

As is the one made of dust, such are those who are also made of dust; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

being revealed that you are a letter of Christ, served by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets that are hearts of flesh.

seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.

For in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without defect before him in love,

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.

and to make all men see what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ,

from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,

and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

For by him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, visible things and invisible things, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things have been created through him and for him.

He is before all things, and in him all things are held together.

and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator,

For Adam was formed first, then Eve.

forbidding marriage and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.

For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly can’t carry anything out.

has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.

His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, who, when he had by himself purified us of our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his servants a flame of fire.”

And, “You, Lord, in the beginning, laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens are the works of your hands.

They will perish, but you continue. They all will grow old like a garment does.

For he didn’t subject the world to come, of which we speak, to angels.

But one has somewhere testified, saying, “What is man, that you think of him? Or the son of man, that you care for him?

You made him a little lower than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honour.

For it became him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in bringing many children to glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, because he who built the house has more honour than the house.

For every house is built by someone; but he who built all things is God.

For we who have believed do enter into that rest, even as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, they will not enter into my rest;” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

For he has said this somewhere about the seventh day, “God rested on the seventh day from all his works;”

But Christ having come as a high priest of the coming good things, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation,

By faith we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible.

For he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable multitudes of angels,

whose voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.”

This phrase, “Yet once more” signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain.

For the sun arises with the scorching wind and withers the grass; and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So the rich man will also fade away in his pursuits.

Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and sea creature is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind;

With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who are made in the image of God.

Does a spring send out from the same opening fresh and bitter water?

Can a fig tree, my brothers, yield olives, or a vine figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh water.

For, “All flesh is like grass, and all of man’s glory like the flower in the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls;

Therefore let them also who suffer according to the will of God in doing good entrust their souls to him, as to a faithful Creator.

and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”

For they wilfully forget that there were heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water by the word of God,

by which means the world that existed then, being overflowed with water, perished.

But the heavens that exist now and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgement and destruction of ungodly men.

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat; and the earth and the works that are in it will be burnt up.

looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, which will cause the burning heavens to be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?

But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we saw, and our hands touched, concerning the Word of life

“To the angel of the assembly in Laodicea write: “The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of God’s creation, says these things:

Before the throne was something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal. In the middle of the throne, and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes before and behind.

The first creature was like a lion, the second creature like a calf, the third creature had a face like a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle.

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, the Holy One, to receive the glory, the honour, and the power, for you created all things, and because of your desire they existed and were created!”

I heard every created thing which is in heaven, on the earth, under the earth, on the sea, and everything in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be the blessing, the honour, the glory, and the dominion, forever and ever! Amen!”

I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became as blood.

The stars of the sky fell to the earth, like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when it is shaken by a great wind.

The sky was removed like a scroll when it is rolled up. Every mountain and island was moved out of its place.

After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth, or on the sea, or on any tree.

I saw another angel ascend from the sunrise, having the seal of the living God. He cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to harm the earth and the sea,

and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there will no longer be delay,

The earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon spewed out of his mouth.

He said with a loud voice, “Fear the Lord, and give him glory, for the hour of his judgement has come. Worship him who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and the springs of waters!”

I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more.

He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” He said, “Write, for these words of God are faithful and true.”

The city is square. Its length is as great as its width. He measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand and twelve stadia. Its length, width, and height are equal.