Study Desk

"It is I who made the earth, and created mankind upon it. I stretched out the heavens with My hands, And I ordained all their lights.

For this is what the LORD says, He who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it as a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited): "I am the LORD, and there is no one else.

"Assuredly My hand founded the earth, And My right hand spread out the heavens; When I call to them, they stand together.

Shout for joy, you heavens! And rejoice, you earth! Break forth into joyful shouting, mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people And will have compassion on His afflicted.

"I clothe the heavens with blackness, And make sackcloth their covering."

That you have forgotten the LORD your Maker, Who stretched out the heavens And laid the foundations of the earth, That you fear continually all day long because of the fury of the oppressor, As he makes ready to destroy? And where is the rage of the oppressor?

"And I have put My words in your mouth and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, 'You are My people.'"

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.

Oh, that You would tear open the heavens and come down, That the mountains would quake at Your presence—

"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.

"For just as the new heavens and the new earth, Which I make, will endure before Me," declares the LORD, "So will your descendants and your name endure.

"Be appalled at this, you heavens, And shudder, be very desolate," declares the LORD.

I looked at the earth, and behold, it was a formless and desolate emptiness; And to the heavens, and they had no light.

"For this the earth will mourn, And the heavens above will become dark, Because I have spoken, I have purposed, And I have not changed My mind, nor will I turn from it."

This is what the LORD says: "Do not learn the way of the nations, And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens, Although the nations are terrified by them;

This is what you shall say to them: "The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens."

It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens.

When He utters His voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens, And He makes the clouds ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings out the wind from His storehouses.

Are there any among the idols of the nations who give rain? Or can the heavens grant showers? Is it not You, LORD our God? Therefore we wait for You, For You are the one who has done all these things.

"Can a person hide himself in hiding places So that I do not see him?" declares the LORD. "Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?" declares the LORD.