Job 38
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
And the Lord made answer to Job out of the storm-wind, and said,
2 “Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge?
Who is this who makes the purpose of God dark by words without knowledge?
3 Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me.
Get your strength together like a man of war; I will put questions to you, and you will give me the answers.
4 Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.
Where were you when I put the earth on its base? Say, if you have knowledge.
5 Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched a measuring line across it?
By whom were its measures fixed? Say, if you have wisdom; or by whom was the line stretched out over it?
6 On what were its foundations set, or who laid its cornerstone,
On what were its pillars based, or who put down its angle-stone,
7 while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
When the morning stars made songs together, and all the sons of the gods gave cries of joy?
8 Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,
Or where were you when the sea came to birth, pushing out from its secret place;
9 when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its blanket,
When I made the cloud its robe, and put thick clouds as bands round it,
10 when I fixed its boundaries and set in place its bars and doors,
Ordering a fixed limit for it, with locks and doors;
11 and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther; here your proud waves must stop’?
And said, So far you may come, and no farther; and here the pride of your waves will be stopped?
12 In your days, have you commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place,
Have you, from your earliest days, given orders to the morning, or made the dawn conscious of its place;
13 that it might spread to the ends of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?
So that it might take a grip of the skirts of the earth, shaking all the evil-doers out of it?
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.
It is changed like wet earth under a stamp, and is coloured like a robe;
15 Light is withheld from the wicked, and their upraised arm is broken.
And from the evil-doers their light is kept back, and the arm of pride is broken.
16 Have you journeyed to the vents of the sea or walked in the trenches of the deep?
Have you come into the springs of the sea, walking in the secret places of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
Have the doors of death been open to you, or have the door-keepers of the dark ever seen you?
18 Have you surveyed the extent of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.
Have you taken note of the wide limits of the earth? Say, if you have knowledge of it all.
19 Where is the way to the home of light? Do you know where darkness resides,
Which is the way to the resting-place of the light, and where is the store-house of the dark;
20 so you can lead it back to its border? Do you know the paths to its home?
So that you might take it to its limit, guiding it to its house?
21 Surely you know, for you were already born! And the number of your days is great!
No doubt you have knowledge of it, for then you had come to birth, and the number of your days is great.
22 Have you entered the storehouses of snow or observed the storehouses of hail,
Have you come into the secret place of snow, or have you seen the store-houses of the ice-drops,
23 which I hold in reserve for times of trouble, for the day of war and battle?
Which I have kept for the time of trouble, for the day of war and fighting?
24 In which direction is the lightning dispersed, or the east wind scattered over the earth?
Which is the way to the place where the wind is measured out, and the east wind sent out over the earth?
25 Who cuts a channel for the flood or clears a path for the thunderbolt,
By whom has the way been cut for the flowing of the rain, and the flaming of the thunder;
26 to bring rain on a barren land, on a desert where no man lives,
Causing rain to come on a land where no man is living, on the waste land which has no people;
27 to satisfy the parched wasteland and make it sprout with tender grass?
To give water to the land where there is waste and destruction, and to make the dry land green with young grass?
28 Does the rain have a father? Who has begotten the drops of dew?
Has the rain a father? or who gave birth to the drops of night mist?
29 From whose womb does the ice emerge? Who gives birth to the frost from heaven,
Out of whose body came the ice? and who gave birth to the cold mist of heaven?
30 when the waters become hard as stone and the surface of the deep is frozen?
The waters are joined together, hard as a stone, and the face of the deep is covered.
31 Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion?
Are the bands of the Pleiades fixed by you, or are the cords of Orion made loose?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear and her cubs?
Do you make Mazzaroth come out in its right time, or are the Bear and its children guided by you?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth?
Have you knowledge of the laws of the heavens? did you give them rule over the earth?
34 Can you command the clouds so that a flood of water covers you?
Is your voice sent up to the cloud, so that you may be covered by the weight of waters?
35 Can you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
Do you send out the thunder-flames, so that they may go, and say to you, Here we are?
36 Who has put wisdom in the heart or given understanding to the mind?
Who has put wisdom in the high clouds, or given knowledge to the lights of the north?
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens
By whose wisdom are the clouds numbered, or the water-skins of the heavens turned to the earth,
38 when the dust hardens into a mass and the clods of earth stick together?
When the earth becomes hard as metal, and is joined together in masses?
39 Can you hunt the prey for a lioness or satisfy the hunger of young lions
Do you go after food for the she-lion, or get meat so that the young lions may have enough,
40 when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait in the thicket?
When they are stretched out in their holes, and are waiting in the brushwood?
41 Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?
Who gives in the evening the meat he is searching for, when his young ones are crying to God; when the young lions with loud noise go wandering after their food?
