Scrutatio

Venerdi, 29 marzo 2024 - Santi Simplicio e Costantino ( Letture di oggi)

Job 38


font

1Then the LORD addressed Job out of the storm and said:2Who is this that obscures divine plans with words of ignorance?3Gird up your loins now, like a man; I will question you, and you tell me the answers!4Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.5Who determined its size; do you know? Who stretched out the measuring line for it?6Into what were its pedestals sunk, and who laid the cornerstone,7While the morning stars sang in chorus and all the sons of God shouted for joy?8And who shut within doors the sea, when it burst forth from the womb;9When I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling bands?10When I set limits for it and fastened the bar of its door,11And said: Thus far shall you come but no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stilled!12Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning and shown the dawn its place13For taking hold of the ends of the earth, till the wicked are shaken from its surface?14The earth is changed as is clay by the seal, and dyed as though it were a garment;15But from the wicked the light is withheld, and the arm of pride is shattered.16Have you entered into the sources of the sea, or walked about in the depths of the abyss?17Have the gates of death been shown to you, or have you seen the gates of darkness?18Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell me, if you know all:19Which is the way to the dwelling place of light, and where is the abode of darkness,20That you may take them to their boundaries and set them on their homeward paths?21You know, because you were born before them, and the number of your years is great!22Have you entered the storehouse of the snow, and seen the treasury of the hail23Which I have reserved for times of stress, for the days of war and of battle?24Which way to the parting of the winds, whence the east wind spreads over the earth?25Who has laid out a channel for the downpour and for the thunderstorm a path26To bring rain to no man's land, the unpeopled wilderness;27To enrich the waste and desolate ground till the desert blooms with verdure?28Has the rain a father; or who has begotten the drops of dew?29Out of whose womb comes the ice, and who gives the hoarfrost its birth in the skies,30When the waters lie covered as though with stone that holds captive the surface of the deep?31Have you fitted a curb to the Pleiades, or loosened the bonds of Orion?32Can you bring forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or guide the Bear with its train?33Do you know the ordinances of the heavens; can you put into effect their plan on the earth?34Can you raise your voice among the clouds, or veil yourself in the waters of the storm?35Can you send forth the lightnings on their way, or will they say to you, "Here we are"?36Who puts wisdom in the heart, and gives the cock its understanding?37Who counts the clouds in his wisdom? Or who tilts the water jars of heaven38So that the dust of earth is fused into a mass and its clods made solid?39Do you hunt the prey for the lioness or appease the hunger of her cubs,40While they crouch in their dens, or lie in wait in the thicket?41Who provides nourishment for the ravens when their young ones cry out to God, and they rove abroad without food?