there were still no plants on the earth. Nothing was growing in the fields because the Lord God had not yet made it rain on the land. And there was no person to care for the ground,
Who has gone up to heaven and come back down? Who can hold the wind in his hand? Who can gather up the waters in his coat? Who has set in place the ends of the earth? What is his name or his son’s name? Tell me, if you know!
“Lord All-Powerful, you are the God of Israel, whose throne is between the gold creatures with wings, only you are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.
God sits on his throne above the circle of the earth, and compared to him, people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the skies like a piece of cloth and spreads them out like a tent to sit under.
God, the Lord, said these things. He created the skies and stretched them out. He spread out the earth and everything on it. He gives life to all people on earth, to everyone who walks on the earth.
This is what the Lord says, who saved you, who formed you in your mother’s body: “I, the Lord, made everything, stretching out the skies by myself and spreading out the earth all alone.
The Lord created the heavens. He is the God who formed the earth and made it. He did not want it to be empty, but he wanted life on the earth. This is what the Lord says: “I am the Lord. There is no other God.
This is what the Lord says: “At the right time I will hear your prayers. On the day of salvation I will help you. I will protect you, and you will be the sign of my agreement with the people. You will bring back the people to the land and give the land that is now ruined back to its owners.
When he thunders, the waters in the skies roar. He makes clouds rise in the sky all over the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
But God, who is Jacob’s Portion, is not like the idols. He made everything, and he chose Israel to be his special people. The Lord All-Powerful is his name.
Do foreign idols have the power to bring rain? Does the sky itself have the power to send down showers? No, it is you, Lord our God. You are our only hope, because you are the one who made all these things.
This message is the word of the Lord to Israel. This is what the Lord says, who stretched out the skies, and laid the foundations of the earth, and put the human spirit within:
Through his power all things were made—things in heaven and on earth, things seen and unseen, all powers, authorities, lords, and rulers. All things were made through Christ and for Christ.