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B. Inaccessibility of Wisdom

24 O Israel, how vast is the dwelling of God,[a]
    how broad the scope of his dominion:
25 Vast and endless,
    high and immeasurable!
26 In it were born the giants,[b]
    renowned at the first,
    huge in stature, skilled in war.(A)
27 These God did not choose,
    nor did he give them the way of understanding;(B)
28 They perished for lack of prudence,
    perished through their own folly.(C)

29 Who has gone up to the heavens and taken her,
    bringing her down from the clouds?(D)
30 Who has crossed the sea and found her,
    bearing her away rather than choice gold?
31 None knows the way to her,
    nor has at heart her path.
32 But the one who knows all things knows her;
    he has probed her by his knowledge—
The one who established the earth for all time,
    and filled it with four-footed animals,
33 Who sends out the lightning, and it goes,
    calls it, and trembling it obeys him;
34 Before whom the stars at their posts
    shine and rejoice.
35 When he calls them, they answer, “Here we are!”
    shining with joy for their Maker.(E)
36 Such is our God;
    no other is to be compared to him:

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Footnotes

  1. 3:24 The dwelling of God: here, the whole universe; cf. Is 66:1.
  2. 3:26 The giants: Gn 6:1–4 reflects a tradition about giants who existed before the flood; this was developed in the non-canonical Book of Enoch.