Job 38
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
And YHWH answers Job out of the whirlwind and says:
2 “Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge?
“Who [is] this—darkening counsel, By words without knowledge?
3 Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me.
Now gird your loins as a man, And I ask you, and you cause Me to know.
4 Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.
Where were you when I founded the earth? Declare, if you have known understanding.
5 Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched a measuring line across it?
Who placed its measures—if you know? Or who has stretched out a line on it?
6 On what were its foundations set, or who laid its cornerstone,
On what have its sockets been sunk? Or who has cast its cornerstone—
7 while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
In the singing together of [the] stars of morning, When all [the] sons of God shout for joy?
8 Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,
And He shuts up the sea with doors, In its coming forth, it goes out from the womb.
9 when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its blanket,
In My making a cloud its clothing, And thick darkness its swaddling band,
10 when I fixed its boundaries and set in place its bars and doors,
And I measure My statute over it, And place bar and doors,
11 and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther; here your proud waves must stop’?
And say, To here you come, and no more, And a command is placed On the pride of your billows.
12 In your days, have you commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place,
Have you commanded morning since your days? Do you cause the dawn to know its place?
13 that it might spread to the ends of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?
To take hold on the skirts of the earth, And the wicked are shaken out of it,
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.
It turns itself as clay of a seal And they station themselves as clothed.
15 Light is withheld from the wicked, and their upraised arm is broken.
And their light is withheld from the wicked, And the arm lifted up is broken.
16 Have you journeyed to the vents of the sea or walked in the trenches of the deep?
Have you come to springs of the sea? And in searching the deep Have you walked up and down?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
Were the gates of death revealed to you? And do you see the gates of death-shade?
18 Have you surveyed the extent of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.
You have understanding, Even to the broad places of earth! Declare—if you have known it all.
19 Where is the way to the home of light? Do you know where darkness resides,
Where [is] this—the way light dwells? And darkness, where [is] this—its place?
20 so you can lead it back to its border? Do you know the paths to its home?
That you take it to its boundary, And that you understand the paths of its house.
21 Surely you know, for you were already born! And the number of your days is great!
You have known—for then you are born, And the number of your days [are] many!
22 Have you entered the storehouses of snow or observed the storehouses of hail,
Have you come to the treasure of snow? Indeed, do you see the treasures of hail,
23 which I hold in reserve for times of trouble, for the day of war and battle?
That I have kept back for a time of distress, For a day of conflict and battle?
24 In which direction is the lightning dispersed, or the east wind scattered over the earth?
Where [is] this, the way light is apportioned? It scatters an east wind over the earth.
25 Who cuts a channel for the flood or clears a path for the thunderbolt,
Who has divided a conduit for the flood? And a way for the lightning of the voices?
26 to bring rain on a barren land, on a desert where no man lives,
To cause [it] to rain on a land [with] no man, A wilderness [with] no man in it.
27 to satisfy the parched wasteland and make it sprout with tender grass?
To satisfy a desolate and ruined place, And to cause to shoot up The produce of the tender grass?
28 Does the rain have a father? Who has begotten the drops of dew?
Does the rain have a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb does the ice emerge? Who gives birth to the frost from heaven,
From whose belly came forth the ice? And the hoarfrost of the heavens, Who has begotten it?
30 when the waters become hard as stone and the surface of the deep is frozen?
Waters are hidden as a stone, And the face of the deep is captured.
31 Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion?
Do you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Or do you open the cords of Orion?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear and her cubs?
Do you bring out the twelve signs in [their] season? And do you comfort the Great Bear over her sons?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth?
Have you known the statutes of the heavens? Or do you appoint Its dominion in the earth?
34 Can you command the clouds so that a flood of water covers you?
Do you lift up your voice to the cloud, And abundance of water covers you?
35 Can you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
Do you send out lightnings, and they go And say to you, Behold us?
36 Who has put wisdom in the heart or given understanding to the mind?
Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the covered part?
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens
Who numbers the clouds by wisdom? And the bottles of the heavens, Who causes to lie down,
38 when the dust hardens into a mass and the clods of earth stick together?
In the hardening of dust into hardness, And clods cleave together?
39 Can you hunt the prey for a lioness or satisfy the hunger of young lions
Do you hunt prey for a lion? And fulfill the desire of young lions?
40 when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait in the thicket?
When they bow down in dens—Abide in a thicket for a covert?
41 Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?
Who prepares for a raven his provision, When his young ones cry to God? They wander without food.”
