Study Desk

Who else has held the oceans in his hand? Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers? Who else knows the weight of the earth or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale?

God sits above the circle of the earth. The people below seem like grasshoppers to him! He spreads out the heavens like a curtain and makes his tent from them.

Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of his great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing.

God, the Lord , created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath to everyone, life to everyone who walks the earth. And it is he who says,

Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done this wondrous thing. Shout for joy, O depths of the earth! Break into song, O mountains and forests and every tree! For the Lord has redeemed Jacob and is glorified in Israel.

This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer and Creator: "I am the Lord , who made all things. I alone stretched out the heavens. Who was with me when I made the earth?

"Open up, O heavens, and pour out your righteousness. Let the earth open wide so salvation and righteousness can sprout up together. I, the Lord , created them.

I am the one who made the earth and created people to live on it. With my hands I stretched out the heavens. All the stars are at my command.

For the Lord is God, and he created the heavens and earth and put everything in place. He made the world to be lived in, not to be a place of empty chaos. "I am the Lord ," he says, "and there is no other.

It was my hand that laid the foundations of the earth, my right hand that spread out the heavens above. When I call out the stars, they all appear in order."

Sing for joy, O heavens! Rejoice, O earth! Burst into song, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on them in their suffering.

For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

"The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry.

Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence!

"Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore.

"As surely as my new heavens and earth will remain, so will you always be my people, with a name that will never disappear," says the Lord .

The heavens are shocked at such a thing and shrink back in horror and dismay," says the Lord .

I looked at the earth, and it was empty and formless. I looked at the heavens, and there was no light.

The earth will mourn and the heavens will be draped in black because of my decree against my people. I have made up my mind and will not change it."

Say this to those who worship other gods: "Your so-called gods, who did not make the heavens and earth, will vanish from the earth and from under the heavens."