Sirach 16:17-30

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹⁷ Do not say, “I am hidden from the Lord,
    and who from on high has me in mind?
Among so many people I am unknown,
    for what am I in a boundless creation?^(A)
18 Look, heaven and the highest heaven,
    the abyss and the earth tremble at his visitation!^[a](B)
19 Together the mountains and the foundations of the earth
    shake and tremble when he looks upon them.^(C)
20 But no human mind can grasp this,
    and who can comprehend his ways?^(D)
21 Like a tempest that no one can see,
    so most of his works are concealed.^[b](E)
22 Who is to announce his acts of justice?
    Or who can await them? For his decree^[c] is far off.”^[d]
23 Such are the thoughts of one devoid of understanding;
    a senseless and misguided person thinks foolishly.

²⁶ When the Lord created^[f] his works from the beginning
    and, in making them, determined their boundaries,
²⁷ he arranged their works in an eternal order
    and their dominion^[g] for all generations.
They neither hunger nor grow weary,
    and they do not abandon their tasks.^(H)
28 They do not crowd one another,
    and they never disobey his word.
²⁹ Then the Lord looked upon the earth
    and filled it with his good things.^(I)
30 With all kinds of living beings he covered its surface,
    and into it they must return.^(J)