Observing and Contemplating Nature

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have the understanding. Who determined its measurements -- if you know -- or who stretched out the measuring line over it? On what were its foundations fixed? Who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

Or who shut up the sea with doors when it broke forth and came from the womb? When I made it a garment of cloud and wrapped it in thick darkness and imposed My decree on it and set bars and doors and said, "This far you may come but no further, and here your proud waves must stop."

Have you commanded the morning since your days began or told the dawn its place, that it might take hold of the ends of the earth and the wicked will be shaken out of it?...

Have you entered into the wellsprings of the sea, or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?

Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? Have you surveyed the very breadths of the earth? Declare, if you know it all.

What is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness, that you should follow it to its bounds and know the paths to its house?

You know it, for you were born then and the number of your days if great!

Have you entered the treasures of the snow, or have you seen the treasuries of the hail that I have saved for a time of trouble, the day of battle and war?

By which way is the light parted or the east wind scattered on the earth? Who has broken a channel for the waterflood or a way for lightning and thunder, to make it rain on a land where there is no man, on the wilderness where there is no man, in order to satisfy the desolate and waste ground and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth? Does the rain have a father? Who has given birth to the drops of dew. From whose womb came the ice? Who gave birth to the hoar-frost of heaven? The waters are congealed like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

Can you bind the chains of the stars of the Pleiades or loosen the bands of Orion? Can you lead forth the Mazarot in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her sons? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish its rule over the earth?

Can you lift up your voice to the clouds so that abundant waters will cover you? Can you send forth lightning flashes so that they will go forth and say to you "Here we are"?

Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind? Who can number the clouds by wisdom and lay down the expanses of the heavens when the dust runs into a mass and the clods stick together?

Will you hunt for prey for the lioness or satisfy the appetite of the young cubs when they couch in their dens and lie in wait in the hidden places? Who provides the raven his prey when his young ones cry to God and wander for lack of food?

Do you know the time when the wild goats of the rock give birth or can you mark when the hinds calve? Can you count how many months they are pregnant? Do you know the time when they give birth? They bow themselves, they bring forth their young, they cast out their fruit. Their young ones grow strong and grow up in the open field. They go forth and do not come back again.

Who has sent the wild ass out free? Who has loosed the straps of the wild ass? His house is in the wilderness and his dwelling-place is in the salt-land. He scorns the tumult of the city and does not listen to the shouting of the driver. The range of the mountains is his pasture and he searches for everything green.

Will the wild-ox be willing to serve you or wait for you by the stall? Can you bind the wild-ox with straps in the furrow? Will he plough the valleys after you? Will you trust him because of his great strength, or will you leave your work to him? Will you rely on him to bring your produce home and gather the corn of your threshing-floor?

The wing of the ostrich beats joyously, but are her wings and feathers those of the kindly stork? For she leaves her eggs on the ground and warms them in the dust, and forgets that the foot may crush them or the wild beast may trample them. She is hardened against her young ones, as if they were not hers. Though her labor is in vain, she is without fear. Because God has deprived her of wisdom, neither has He given her a portion of understanding. When the time comes, she raises her wings on high and scorns the horse and his rider.

Have you given the horse his strength? Have you clothed his neck with power? Have you made him spring like a locust? The glory of his snorting is terrible. He gallops in the valley and rejoices in his strength. He goes out to met the clash off arms. He mocks at fear and is not afraid. He does not turn back from the sword. The quiver rattles on him, the glittering spear and the javelin. He swallows the ground with storm and rage and does not believe that it is the voice of the horn. Whenever he hears the horn he says "Ha! Ha!" and he smells the battle far off, the thunder of the captains and the shouting.

Does the hawk soar by your wisdom and stretch her wings towards the south? Does the vulture mount up at your command and make her nest on high? She dwells and stays on the rock, on the crag of the rock and the stronghold. From there she spies out the prey. Her eyes see it from far off. Her young ones also suck up the blood, and where the slain are, there she is....

Job chapters 38-39

I know that You can do everything, and no purpose can be withheld from You. Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I spoke that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.... I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor my words and repent, seeing as I am dust and ashes.

ibid. 42, 1-6