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God Rules the Whole Earth

21 Don't you know?
    Haven't you heard?
Hasn't it been clear
    since the time of creation?[a]
22 God is the one who rules
    the whole earth,
and we that live here
    are merely insects.
He spread out the heavens
like a curtain or an open tent.

23 God brings down rulers
    and turns them into nothing.
24 They are like flowers
freshly sprung up
    and starting to grow.
But when God blows on them,
they wilt and are carried off
    like straw in a storm.

25 The holy God asks,
“Who compares with me?
    Is anyone my equal?”

26 (A) Look at the evening sky!
    Who created the stars?
Who gave them each a name?
    Who leads them like an army?
The Lord is so powerful
that none of the stars
    are ever missing.

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Footnotes

  1. 40.21 Hasn't … creation: Or “Isn't it clear that God created the world?”

21 Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?(A)
Has it not been told(B) you from the beginning?(C)
    Have you not understood(D) since the earth was founded?(E)
22 He sits enthroned(F) above the circle of the earth,
    and its people are like grasshoppers.(G)
He stretches out the heavens(H) like a canopy,(I)
    and spreads them out like a tent(J) to live in.(K)
23 He brings princes(L) to naught
    and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.(M)
24 No sooner are they planted,
    no sooner are they sown,
    no sooner do they take root(N) in the ground,
than he blows(O) on them and they wither,(P)
    and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.(Q)

25 “To whom will you compare me?(R)
    Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.(S)
26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:(T)
    Who created(U) all these?
He who brings out the starry host(V) one by one
    and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,(W)
    not one of them is missing.(X)

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