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Awake, awake, put on strength,
    O arm of the Lord!
Awake, as in days of old,
    the generations of long ago!
Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces,
    who pierced the dragon?(A)

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He is wise in heart and mighty in strength;
    who has resisted him and succeeded?(A)
He removes mountains, and they do not know it
    when he overturns them in his anger;
he shakes the earth out of its place,
    and its pillars tremble;(B)
he commands the sun, and it does not rise;
    he seals up the stars;
he alone stretched out the heavens
    and trampled the waves of the Sea;[a](C)
he made the Bear and Orion,
    the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;(D)
10 he does great things beyond understanding
    and marvelous things without number.(E)
11 Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him;
    he moves on, but I do not perceive him.(F)
12 He snatches away; who can stop him?
    Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’(G)

13 “God will not turn back his anger;
    the helpers of Rahab bowed beneath him.(H)
14 How then can I answer him,
    choosing my words with him?

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Footnotes

  1. 9.8 Or trampled the back of the sea dragon

He stretches out Zaphon[a] over the void
    and hangs the earth upon nothing.(A)
He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,
    and the cloud is not torn open by them.(B)
He covers the face of the full moon
    and spreads over it his cloud.(C)
10 He has described a circle on the face of the waters,
    at the boundary between light and darkness.(D)
11 The pillars of heaven tremble
    and are astounded at his rebuke.
12 By his power he stilled the Sea;
    by his understanding he struck down Rahab.(E)
13 By his wind the heavens were made fair;
    his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.(F)
14 These are indeed but the outskirts of his ways,
    and how small a whisper do we hear of him!
    But the thunder of his power who can understand?”(G)

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Footnotes

  1. 26.7 Or the North

The Lord Answers Job

38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:(A)

“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?(B)
Gird up your loins like a man;
    I will question you, and you shall declare to me.(C)

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
    Tell me, if you have understanding.(D)
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
    Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk,
    or who laid its cornerstone(E)
when the morning stars sang together
    and all the heavenly beings[a] shouted for joy?(F)

“Or who shut in the sea with doors
    when it burst out from the womb,(G)
when I made the clouds its garment
    and thick darkness its swaddling band,(H)
10 and prescribed bounds for it,
    and set bars and doors,(I)
11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you come and no farther,
    and here shall your proud waves be stopped’?(J)

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Footnotes

  1. 38.7 Heb sons of God

Psalm 8

Divine Majesty and Human Dignity

To the leader: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.

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

You have set your glory above the heavens.(A)
    Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
    to silence the enemy and the avenger.(B)

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars that you have established;(C)
what are humans that you are mindful of them,
    mortals[a] that you care for them?(D)

Yet you have made them a little lower than God[b]
    and crowned them with glory and honor.(E)
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under their feet,(F)
all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Sovereign,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!(G)

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Footnotes

  1. 8.4 Heb son of man
  2. 8.5 Or than the divine beings or angels

12 Yet God my King is from of old,
    working salvation in the earth.(A)
13 You divided the sea by your might;
    you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters.(B)
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
    you gave him as food[a] for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 You cut openings for springs and torrents;
    you dried up ever-flowing streams.(C)
16 Yours is the day, yours also the night;
    you established the luminaries[b] and the sun.(D)
17 You have fixed all the bounds of the earth;
    you made summer and winter.(E)

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Footnotes

  1. 74.14 Heb food for the people
  2. 74.16 Or moon; Heb light

O Lord God of hosts,
    who is as mighty as you, O Lord?
    Your faithfulness surrounds you.(A)
You rule the raging of the sea;
    when its waves rise, you still them.(B)
10 You crushed Rahab like a carcass;
    you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.(C)

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Psalm 104

God the Creator and Provider

Bless the Lord, O my soul.
    O Lord my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honor and majesty,(A)
    wrapped in light as with a garment.
You stretch out the heavens like a tent;(B)
    you set the beams of your[a] chambers on the waters;
you make the clouds your[b] chariot;
    you ride on the wings of the wind;(C)
you make the winds your[c] messengers,
    fire and flame your[d] ministers.(D)

You set the earth on its foundations,
    so that it shall never be shaken.(E)
You cover it with the deep as with a garment;
    the waters stood above the mountains.(F)
At your rebuke they flee;
    at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.
They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys,
    to the place that you appointed for them.(G)
You set a boundary that they may not pass,
    so that they might not again cover the earth.(H)

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Footnotes

  1. 104.3 Heb his
  2. 104.3 Heb his
  3. 104.4 Heb his
  4. 104.4 Heb his

Psalm 136

God’s Work in Creation and in History

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.(A)
O give thanks to the God of gods,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.(B)
O give thanks to the Lord of lords,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;

who alone does great wonders,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;(C)
who by understanding made the heavens,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;(D)
who spread out the earth on the waters,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;(E)
who made the great lights,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;(F)
the sun to rule over the day,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;(G)
the moon and stars to rule over the night,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;

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Wisdom’s Part in Creation

22 “The Lord created me at the beginning[a] of his work,[b]
    the first of his acts of long ago.(A)
23 Ages ago I was set up,
    at the first, before the beginning of the earth.(B)
24 When there were no depths I was brought forth,
    when there were no springs abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains had been shaped,
    before the hills, I was brought forth,(C)
26 when he had not yet made earth and fields[c]
    or the world’s first bits of soil.
27 When he established the heavens, I was there;
    when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,(D)
28 when he made firm the skies above,
    when he established the fountains of the deep,
29 when he assigned to the sea its limit,
    so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,(E)
30     then I was beside him, like a master worker,[d]
and I was daily his[e] delight,
    playing before him always,(F)
31 playing in his inhabited world
    and delighting in the human race.(G)

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Footnotes

  1. 8.22 Or me as the beginning
  2. 8.22 Heb way
  3. 8.26 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  4. 8.30 Or little child
  5. 8.30 Gk: Heb lacks his