Job 38
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
Then the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind, and said:
2 “Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge?
Who is this that wrappeth up sentences in unskillful words?
3 Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me.
Gird up thy loins like a man: I will ask thee, and answer thou me.
4 Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.
Where wast thou when I laid up the foundations of the earth? tell me if thou hast understanding.
5 Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched a measuring line across it?
Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
6 On what were its foundations set, or who laid its cornerstone,
Upon what are its bases grounded? or who laid the corner stone thereof,
7 while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
When the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody?
8 Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,
Who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth as issuing out of the womb:
9 when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its blanket,
When I made a cloud the garment thereof, and wrapped it in a mist as in swaddling bands?
10 when I fixed its boundaries and set in place its bars and doors,
I set my bounds around it, and made it bars and doors:
11 and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther; here your proud waves must stop’?
And I said: Hitherto thou shalt come, and shalt go no further, and here thou shalt break thy swelling waves.
12 In your days, have you commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place,
Didst thou since thy birth command the morning, and shew the dawning of the day its place?
13 that it might spread to the ends of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?
And didst thou hold the extremities of the earth shaking them, and hast thou shaken the ungodly out of it?
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.
The seal shall be restored as clay, and shall stand as a garment:
15 Light is withheld from the wicked, and their upraised arm is broken.
From the wicked their light shall be taken away, and the high arm shall be broken.
16 Have you journeyed to the vents of the sea or walked in the trenches of the deep?
Hast thou entered into the depths of the sea, and walked in the lowest parts 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 gates of death been opened to thee, and hast thou seen the darksome doors?
18 Have you surveyed the extent of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.
Hast thou considered the breadth of the earth? tell me, if thou knowest all things?
19 Where is the way to the home of light? Do you know where darkness resides,
Where is the way where light dwelleth, and where is the place of darkness:
20 so you can lead it back to its border? Do you know the paths to its home?
That thou mayst bring every thing to its own bounds, and understand the paths of the house thereof.
21 Surely you know, for you were already born! And the number of your days is great!
Didst thou know then that thou shouldst be born? and didst thou know the number of thy days?
22 Have you entered the storehouses of snow or observed the storehouses of hail,
Hast thou entered into the storehouses of the snow, or has thou beheld the treasures of the hail:
23 which I hold in reserve for times of trouble, for the day of war and battle?
Which I have prepared for the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war?
24 In which direction is the lightning dispersed, or the east wind scattered over the earth?
By what way is the light spread, and heat divided upon the earth?
25 Who cuts a channel for the flood or clears a path for the thunderbolt,
Who gave a course to violent showers, or a way for noisy thunder:
26 to bring rain on a barren land, on a desert where no man lives,
That it should rain on the earth without man in the wilderness, where no mortal dwelleth:
27 to satisfy the parched wasteland and make it sprout with tender grass?
That it should fill the desert and desolate land, and should bring forth green grass?
28 Does the rain have a father? Who has begotten the drops of dew?
Who is the father of rain? or who begot the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb does the ice emerge? Who gives birth to the frost from heaven,
Out of whose womb came the ice; and the frost from heaven who hath gendered it?
30 when the waters become hard as stone and the surface of the deep is frozen?
The waters are hardened like a stone, and the surface of the deep is congealed.
31 Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion?
Shalt thou be able to join together the shining stars the Pleiades, or canst thou stop the turning about of Arcturus?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear and her cubs?
Canst thou bring forth the day star in its time, and make the evening star to rise upon the children of the earth?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth?
Dost thou know the order of heaven, and canst thou set down the reason thereof on the earth?
34 Can you command the clouds so that a flood of water covers you?
Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that an abundance of waters may cover thee?
35 Can you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
Canst thou send lightnings, and will they go, and will they return and say to thee: Here we are?
36 Who has put wisdom in the heart or given understanding to the mind?
Who hath put wisdom in the heart of man? or who gave the cock understanding?
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens
Who can declare the order of the heavens, or who can make the harmony of heaven to sleep?
38 when the dust hardens into a mass and the clods of earth stick together?
When was the dust poured on the earth, and the clods fastened together?
39 Can you hunt the prey for a lioness or satisfy the hunger of young lions
Wilt thou take the prey for the lioness, and satisfy the appetite of her whelps,
40 when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait in the thicket?
When they couch in the dens and lie in wait in holes?
41 Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?
Who provideth food for the raven, when her young ones cry to God, wandering about, because they have no meat?
