Let the Animals Teach you

 
The animals are supposed to teach you that goodness is not always rewarded and evil is not always punished.

Ask the animals, and they will teach you,
or the birds of the air, and they will tell you;

Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
or let the fish of the sea inform you.

Ma interroga pure le bestie, perché ti ammaestrino, gli uccelli del cielo, perché ti informino o i rettili della terra, perché ti istruiscano o i pesci del mare perché te lo faccian sapere.

Pregunta pues para que te instruyan los pájaros del cielo, los "rettili della terra" o los peces del mar.

Job12.7-8
Hiob 12:7-8 -- Luther Bibel 1545

Frage doch das Vieh, das wird's dich lehren und die Vögel unter dem Himmel, die werden's dir sagen; oder rede mit der Erde, die wird's dich lehren, und die Fische im Meer werden dir's erzählen.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job+12%3A7-8&version=LUTH1545
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The chapters of the Bible are called books because they were originally published separately and later they became part of that singular collection called The Bible.

The "Book of Job" is only some 20 pages, but it is difficult to read.

The drawing shows Satan challenging Job.
 
Job suffers, and with his friends he discusses why God would allow pain to exist. -- 

Ther great reproductions are from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Blake_Book_of_Job_Linell_set_6.jpg
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Job's friends try to comfort him, but they say that evidently he deserved his pain to make up for his sins.

Job disagrees and maintains that he has not deserved punishment, but God's idea of retribution is not like ours. And he cites the animals' fate to prove his point.


The drawings are by William Blake. I think Job's friends are not as vehement as the drawings suggest.

Public Domain according to
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4771425

In the end God himself appears and he says that Job is right.

That part of the poem is easy to read and endlessly entertaining: 

English and source texts:   http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/poly/job038.htm

Only English: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job+38&version=KJV
and some 20 other versions also are available. 

The picture of the American buffalo including its larger version has been released into public domain by the US Department of Agriculture, according to http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:American_bison_k5680-1.jpg

Link to source text English ....... Greek.......Hebrew........Latin





 
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