World English Bible · The patriarchs
Job 37
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"Yes, at this trembles, and is moved out of its place. Hear, oh, hear the noise of his voice, the sound that goes out of his . He sends it out under the whole sky, and his lightning to the ends of the earth. After it a voice roars. He thunders with the voice of his majesty. He doesn't hold back anything when his voice is heard. thunders marvelously 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 , and to the of his mighty . He seals up the hand of every man, that all men whom he has made may know it. Then the animals take cover, and in their dens. Out of its room comes the storm, and cold out of the north. By the breath of , 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, whether it is for , or for his land, or for , that he causes it to come. "Listen to this, . Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of . Do you know how 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 , which is strong as a cast metal mirror? Teach us what we will tell him, for we can't make our case by reason of . Will it be told him that I would speak? Or should a man wish that he were swallowed up? Now men don't see which is bright in the skies, but the wind passes, and clears them. Out of the north comes golden splendor. With is awesome majesty. We can't reach . He is exalted in . In justice and great , he will not oppress. Therefore men revere him. He doesn't regard any who are of ."
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The patriarchs, 2000 BC to 1600 BC ›
Abraham's family as herdsmen among settled Canaanite city-states, in a world where Egypt and Mesopotamia are the great powers and Canaan is the corridor between them.
- Mesopotamia
- Abraham's own century is Hammurabi's. The great empire of Ur has already fallen, and Babylon rises under a king who published a law code on a stone pillar for everyone to see. Reading Genesis alongside Hammurabi's laws is illuminating in both directions: some provisions are strikingly similar, and the places where Israel's later law diverges are the places worth stopping at.
- Egypt
- The Middle Kingdom, wealthy, bureaucratic, and organised around the Nile flood. Egyptian tomb paintings from this period show Semitic traders arriving with donkeys and striped cloaks, which is more or less the picture Genesis gives of a family going down to Egypt in a famine. Toward the end of the era the Hyksos, rulers of Semitic origin, take the delta.
- Anatolia and the Aegean
- Assyrian merchants run a long-distance trading colony at Kanesh in Anatolia, leaving thousands of clay letters about copper, tin, and debt. On Crete the Minoan palaces are at their height, with plumbing, frescoes, and a script nobody has yet read.
- Further afield
- The Indus Valley cities are in decline after centuries of grid-planned streets and drains. In China the Erlitou culture is building the first palace complexes. Stonehenge is standing and already old.