King James Version · The patriarchs
Job 37
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At this also trembleth, and is moved out of his place. Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the sound that goeth out of his . He directeth it under the whole , and his lightning unto the ends of the earth. After it a voice roareth: he thundereth with the voice of his excellency; and he will not stay them when his voice is heard. thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend. For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small , and to the great of his strength. He sealeth up the hand of every man; that all men may know his work. Then the go into dens, and in their places. Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the north. By the breath of frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened. Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his bright cloud: And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the of the world in the earth. He causeth it to come, whether for , or for his land, or for mercy. unto this, O : stand still, and consider the wondrous works of . Dost thou know when disposed them, and caused of his cloud to shine? Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge? How thy garments are warm, when he quieteth the earth by the south wind? Hast thou with him spread out , which is strong, and as a molten looking glass? Teach us what we shall say unto him; for we cannot order our speech by reason of . Shall it be told him that I speak? if a man speak, surely he shall be swallowed up. And now men see not the bright which is in the clouds: but the wind passeth, and cleanseth them. Fair weather cometh out of the north: with is terrible majesty. Touching , we cannot find him out: he is excellent in , and in , and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict. Men do therefore fear him: he respecteth not any that are of .
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. 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.