The Berean Pursuit
"At this my heart also pounds
and leaps from its place.
Listen closely to the thunder of His voice
and the rumbling that comes from His mouth.
He unleashes His lightning beneath the whole sky
and sends it to the ends of the earth.
Then there comes a roaring sound;
He thunders with His majestic voice.
He does not restrain the lightning
when His voice resounds.
God thunders wondrously with His voice;
He does great things we cannot comprehend.
For He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,'
and to the gentle rain, 'Pour out a mighty downpour.'
He seals up the hand of every man,
so that all men may know His work.
The wild animals enter their lairs;
they settle down in their dens.
The tempest comes from its chamber,
and the cold from the driving north winds.
By the breath of God the ice is formed
and the watery expanses are frozen.
He loads the clouds with moisture;
He scatters His lightning through them.
They swirl about,
whirling at His direction,
accomplishing all that He commands
over the face of all the earth.
Whether for punishment or for His land,
He accomplishes this in His loving devotion.
Listen to this, O Job;
stand still and consider the wonders of God.
Do you know how God dispatches the clouds
or makes the lightning flash?
Do you understand how the clouds float,
those wonders of Him who is perfect in knowledge?
You whose clothes get hot
when the land lies hushed under the south wind,
can you, like Him, spread out the skies
to reflect the heat like a mirror of bronze?
Teach us what we should say to Him;
we cannot draw up our case when our faces are in darkness.
Should He be told that I want to speak?
Would a man ask to be swallowed up?
Now no one can gaze at the sun
when it is bright in the skies
after the wind has swept them clean.
Out of the north He comes in golden splendor;
awesome majesty surrounds Him.
The Almighty is beyond our reach;
He is exalted in power!
In His justice and great righteousness
He does not oppress.
Therefore, men fear Him,
for He is not partial to the wise in heart."
Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
"Who is this who obscures My counsel
by words without knowledge?
Now brace yourself like a man;
I will question you, and you shall inform Me.
Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding.
Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know!
Or who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its foundations set,
or who laid its cornerstone,
while the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Who enclosed the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
when I made the clouds its garment
and thick darkness its blanket,
when I fixed its boundaries
and set in place its bars and doors,
and I declared: 'You may come this far, but no farther;
here your proud waves must stop'?
In your days, have you commanded the morning
or assigned the dawn its place,
that it might spread to the ends of the earth
and shake the wicked out of it?
The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.
Light is withheld from the wicked,
and their upraised arm is broken.
Have you journeyed to the vents of the sea
or walked in the trenches of the deep?
Have the gates of death been revealed to you?
Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
Have you surveyed the extent of the earth?
Tell Me, if you know all this.
Where is the way to the home of light?
Do you know where darkness resides,
so you can lead it back to its border?
Do you know the paths to its home?
Surely you know, for you were already born!
And the number of your days is great!
Have you entered the storehouses of snow
or observed the storehouses of hail,
which I hold in reserve for times of trouble,
for the day of war and battle?
In which direction is the lightning dispersed,
or the east wind scattered over the earth?
Who cuts a channel for the flood
or clears a path for the thunderbolt,
to bring rain on a barren land,
on a desert where no man lives,
to satisfy the parched wasteland
and make it sprout with tender grass?
Does the rain have a father?
Who has begotten the drops of dew?
From whose womb does the ice emerge?
Who gives birth to the frost from heaven,
when the waters become hard as stone
and the surface of the deep is frozen?
Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades
or loosen the belt of Orion?
Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons
or lead out the Bear and her cubs?
Do you know the laws of the heavens?
Can you set their dominion over the earth?
Can you command the clouds
so that a flood of water covers you?
Can you send the lightning bolts on their way?
Do they report to you, 'Here we are'?
Who has put wisdom in the heart
or given understanding to the mind?
Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens
when the dust hardens into a mass
and the clods of earth stick together?
Can you hunt the prey for a lioness
or satisfy the hunger of young lions
when they crouch in their dens
and lie in wait in the thicket?
Who provides food for the raven
when its young cry out to God
as they wander about for lack of food?
"Do you know when mountain goats give birth?
Have you watched the doe bear her fawn?
Can you count the months they are pregnant?
Do you know the time they give birth?
They crouch down and bring forth their young;
they deliver their newborn.
Their young ones thrive and grow up in the open field;
they leave and do not return.
Who set the wild donkey free?
Who released the swift donkey from the harness?
I made the wilderness his home
and the salt flats his dwelling.
He scorns the tumult of the city
and never hears the shouts of a driver.
He roams the mountains for pasture,
searching for any green thing.
Will the wild ox consent to serve you?
Will he stay by your manger at night?
Can you hold him to the furrow with a harness?
Will he plow the valleys behind you?
Can you rely on his great strength?
Will you leave your hard work to him?
Can you trust him to bring in your grain
and gather it to your threshing floor?
The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,
but cannot match the pinions and feathers of the stork.
For she leaves her eggs on the ground
and lets them warm in the sand.
She forgets that a foot may crush them,
or a wild animal may trample them.
She treats her young harshly, as if not her own,
with no concern that her labor was in vain.
For God has deprived her of wisdom;
He has not endowed her with understanding.
Yet when she proudly spreads her wings,
she laughs at the horse and its rider.
Do you give strength to the horse
or adorn his neck with a mane?
Do you make him leap like a locust,
striking terror with his proud snorting?
He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength;
he charges into battle.
He laughs at fear, frightened of nothing;
he does not turn back from the sword.
A quiver rattles at his side,
along with a flashing spear and lance.
Trembling with excitement, he devours the distance;
he cannot stand still when the ram's horn sounds.
At the blast of the horn, he snorts with fervor.
He catches the scent of battle from afar-
the shouts of captains and the cry of war.
Does the hawk take flight by your understanding
and spread his wings toward the south?
Does the eagle soar at your command
and make his nest on high?
He dwells on a cliff and lodges there;
his stronghold is on a rocky crag.
From there he spies out food;
his eyes see it from afar.
His young ones feast on blood;
and where the slain are, there he is."
Of David.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and do not forget all His kind deeds-
He who forgives all your iniquities
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the Pit
and crowns you with loving devotion and compassion,
who satisfies you with good things,
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
The LORD executes righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.
He made known His ways to Moses,
His deeds to the people of Israel.
The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion.
He will not always accuse us,
nor harbor His anger forever.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins
or repaid us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
For He knows our frame;
He is mindful that we are dust.
As for man, his days are like grass-
he blooms like a flower of the field;
when the wind passes over, it vanishes,
and its place remembers it no more.
But from everlasting to everlasting
the loving devotion of the LORD
extends to those who fear Him,
and His righteousness to their children's children-
to those who keep His covenant
and remember to obey His precepts.
The LORD has established His throne in heaven,
and His kingdom rules over all.
Bless the LORD, all His angels mighty in strength
who carry out His word,
who hearken to the voice of His command.
Bless the LORD, all His hosts,
you servants who do His will.
Bless the LORD, all His works
in all places of His dominion.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying:
"Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man,
and He will dwell with them.
They will be His people,
and God Himself will be with them as their God.
'He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,'
and there will be no more death
or mourning or crying or pain,
for the former things have passed away."
And the One seated on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." Then He said, "Write this down, for these words are faithful and true." And He told me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life. The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son.
But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death."
Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls full of the seven final plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, shining with the glory of God. Its radiance was like a most precious jewel, like a jasper, as clear as crystal. The city had a great and high wall with twelve gates inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and twelve angels at the gates. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations bearing the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
The angel who spoke with me had a golden measuring rod to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies foursquare, with its width the same as its length. And he measured the city with the rod, and all its dimensions were equal-12,000 stadia in length and width and height. And he measured its wall to be 144 cubits, by the human measure the angel was using.
The wall was made of jasper, and the city itself of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were adorned with every kind of precious stone:
The first foundation was jasper,
the second sapphire,
the third chalcedony,
the fourth emerald,
the fifth sardonyx,
the sixth carnelian,
the seventh chrysolite,
the eighth beryl,
the ninth topaz,
the tenth chrysoprase,
the eleventh jacinth,
and the twelfth amethyst.
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, with each gate consisting of a single pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold, as clear as glass.
But I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its lamp. By its light the nations will walk, and into it the kings of the earth will bring their glory. Its gates will never be shut at the end of the day, because there will be no night there.
And into the city will be brought the glory and honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices an abomination or a lie, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.