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Sirach 43
Good News Translation (GNT)
43 How beautiful is the bright, clear sky above us!
What a glorious sight it is!
2 The sun, when it appears, proclaims as it rises
how marvelous a thing it is, made by the Most High.
3 At noon it dries up the land;
no one can stand its blazing heat.
4 The setting sun sets fire to the hilltops,
like a metal furnace glowing from the heat.[a]
It sends out fiery rays,
blinding the eyes with its brightness.
5 The Lord, who made it, is great;
it speeds on its way at his command.
6 There is also the moon, marking the passage of time,[b]
an eternal sign of the changing seasons.
7 The moon determines the holy days.
Its light grows full and then grows dim.
8 The month is named after the moon,
marvelous to watch as it grows fuller each night,
a signal light for the heavenly armies,
shining out in the dome of the sky.
9 The shining stars make the night sky lovely,
brilliant ornaments in the Lord's high heavens.
10 They stay in the places assigned to them by the Holy One
and never relax their dutiful watch.
11 Look at the rainbow and praise its Creator!
How magnificent, how radiant, its beauty!
12 Like a bow bent by the hands of the Most High,
it spans the horizon in a circle of glory.
13 He commands, and snow begins to fall;
lightning strikes to carry out his judgments.
14 The storerooms of the sky are thrown open,
and the clouds roll out like flying birds.
15 With his power he forms great masses of clouds
and shatters the ice into hailstones.
16-17 He speaks, and thunder twists the earth in pain;
the mountains are shaken by his strength.[c]
Whenever he wishes, the south wind blows,
whirlwinds come, and windstorms from the north.
He sends the snow fluttering down like birds,
like locusts lighting on the ground.
18 We marvel at its beautiful whiteness,
and in fascination we watch it fall.
19 He sprinkles frost over the ground like salt,
and it freezes into thorny flowers of ice.[d]
20 He sends the cold north wind blowing
and the water hardens into ice;
every lake and pond freezes over,
putting on a coat of icy armor.
21 He scorches the wilderness hills with drought,
and the grass turns brown from its heat;
22 but a cloudy mist restores it all to life
as the weather cools and dew appears.
23 By his wisdom he calmed the great oceans
and placed the islands there.
24 Sailors tell about the dangers of the sea,
and we listen to their tales in amazement.
25 In the sea are strange and marvelous creatures:
huge monsters and all kinds of living things.
26 Each of the Lord's messengers succeeds at its task.
Everything is held together by his word.
27 We could say much more and never finish,
but it all means this: the Lord is everything.
28 How can we find the power to praise him?
He is greater than all his creation.
29 The Lord is awesome in his greatness;
his power is overwhelming.
30 Though you do your best to praise him,
he is greater than you can ever express.
Though you honor him tirelessly and with all your strength,
you still cannot praise him enough.
31 No one has seen him, no one can describe him;
no one can praise him as he deserves.
32 Mysteries greater than these are still unknown;
we know only a fraction of his works.
33 The Lord made the universe
and then gave wisdom to devout people.
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