Signs of the Times  

   "Then the Lord addressed Job out of the storm and said:
   'Who is this that obscures divine plans with words of ignorance?
    Gird up your loins now, like a man:  I will question you, and you tell me the answers:

    Where were you when I founded the earth?
       Tell me, if you have understanding.
    Who determined its size; do you know?
    Who stretched out the measuring line for it?
    Into what were its pedestals sunk,
       and who laid the cornerstone
    While the morning stars sang in chorus
      and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

    And who shut witnin the doors the sea,
     when it burst forth from the womb;
    When I made the clouds its garment
        and thick darkness its swaddling bands?
     When I set limits for it
       and fastened the bar of its door,
     And said, Thus far shall you come but no farther,
     and here shall your proud waves be stilled!

     Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning
        and shown the dawn its place
      For taking hold of the ends of the earth,
     till the wicked are shaken from its surface?
    The earth is changed as is clay by the seal
         and dyed as though it were a garment,
     But from the wicked the light is withheld,
       and the arm of pride is shattered.

    Have you entered into the sources of the sea,
       or walked about in the depths of the abyss?
    Have the gates of death been shown to you,
      or have you seen the gates of darkness?
    Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth?
        Tell me if you know all:

    Which is the way to the dwelling place of light,
      and where is the abode of darkness,
    That you may take them to their boundaries,
       and set them on their homeward paths?
     You know, because you were born before them,
        and the number of your years is great!

      Have you entered the storehouse of the snow,
        and seen the treasury of the hail
      Which I have reserved for times of stress,
        for the days of war and of battle?
      Which way to the parting of the winds,
        whence the east wind spreads over the earth?

      Who has laid out a channel for the downpour
          and for the thunderstorm a path
       To bring rain to no man's land,
          the unpeopled wilderness;
       To enrich the waste and desolate ground
          till the desert blooms with verdure?

      Has the rain a father,
        or who has begotten the drops of dew?
      Out of whose womb comes the ice,
        and who gives the hoarfrost its birth in the skies,
      When the waters lie covered as though with stone
         that holds captive the surface of the deep?.....

     ......Have you an arm like that of God,
        or can you thunder with a voice like his?
      Adorn yourself with grandeur and majesty,
         and array yourself with glory and splendor.
     Let loose the fury of your wrath;
        tear down the wicked and shatter them.
     Bring down the haughty with a glance;
        bury them in the dust together;
     In the hidden world imprison them?
      Then will I too acknowledge
         that your own right hand can save you.

    See, besides you I made Behemoth,
       that feeds on grass like an ox.
     Behold the strength in his loins,
       and his vigor in the sinews of his belly.
    He carries his tail like a cedar;
       the sinews of his thighs are like cables.
    His bones are like tubes of bronze,
        his frame is like iron rods.

   He came at the beginning of God's ways,
      and was made the taskmaster of his fellows;
    For the produce of the mountains is brought to him,
      and of all wild animals he makes sport.
    Under the lotus tree he lies,
        in coverts of the reedy swamp,
    the lotus trees cover him with their shade;
      all about him are the polars on the bank.

    If the river grows violent, he is not disturbed;
      He is tranquil though the torrent surges about his mouth.
    Who can capture him by his eyes,
       or pierce his nose with a trap?

    ...to be continued....