Job 38
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
Then Yahweh responded to Job, out of a storm, and said: —
2 “Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge?
Who is it that darkeneth counsel, by words, without knowledge?
3 Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me.
Gird, I pray thee—like a strong man—thy loins, that I may ask thee, and inform 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 founded the earth? Tell, if thou knowest understanding!
5 Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched a measuring line across it?
Who set the measurements thereof, if thou knowest? Or who stretched out over it a line?
6 On what were its foundations set, or who laid its cornerstone,
Whereon were the pedestals thereof sunk? 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 sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,
Or [who] shut in, with double doors, the sea, when, bursting out of the womb, it came forth;
9 when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its blanket,
When I put a cloud as the garment thereof, and a thick cloud as the swaddling-band thereof;
10 when I fixed its boundaries and set in place its bars and doors,
And brake off for it my boundary, and fixed a bar and double doors;
11 and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther; here your proud waves must stop’?
And said—Hitherto, shalt thou come, and no further, —and, here, shalt thou set a limit to the majesty of thy waves?
12 In your days, have you commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place,
Since thy days [began] hast thou commanded the morning? or caused the dawn to know its place;
13 that it might spread to the ends of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?
That it might lay hold of the wings of the earth, and the lawless be 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 transformeth itself like the clay of a seal, so that things stand forth like one arrayed;
15 Light is withheld from the wicked, and their upraised arm is broken.
That their light may be withdrawn from the lawless, and, the lofty arm, be shivered.
16 Have you journeyed to the vents of the sea or walked in the trenches of the deep?
Hast thou entered as far as the springs of the sea? Or, through the secret recesses of the resounding deep, hast thou wandered?
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 disclosed to thee? And, the gates of the death-shade, couldst thou descry?
18 Have you surveyed the extent of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.
Hast thou well considered, even the breadths of the earth? Tell—if thou knowest it all!
19 Where is the way to the home of light? Do you know where darkness resides,
Where then is the way, the light shall abide? And, the darkness, where then is its place?
20 so you can lead it back to its border? Do you know the paths to its home?
That thou mayest conduct it unto the bound thereof, and that thou mayest perceive the paths to its house.
21 Surely you know, for you were already born! And the number of your days is great!
Thou knowest, for, then, hadst thou been born! And, in number, thy days are many!
22 Have you entered the storehouses of snow or observed the storehouses of hail,
Hast thou entered into the treasuries of the snow? And, the treasuries of the hail, couldst thou see?
23 which I hold in reserve for times of trouble, for the day of war and battle?
Which I have reserved for a time of distress, for the day of conflict and of war?
24 In which direction is the lightning dispersed, or the east wind scattered over the earth?
Where then is the way the lightning is parted? The east wind spreadeth itself abroad over the earth.
25 Who cuts a channel for the flood or clears a path for the thunderbolt,
Who hath cloven—for the torrent—a channel? Or a way for the lightning of thunders;
26 to bring rain on a barren land, on a desert where no man lives,
To give rain over the no-man’s land, the desert, where no son of earth is;
27 to satisfy the parched wasteland and make it sprout with tender grass?
To satisfy the wild and the wilderness, to cause to spring forth the meadow of young grass?
28 Does the rain have a father? Who has begotten the drops of dew?
Hath the rain a father? Or who hath begotten 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 forth the ice? And, the hoar-frost of the heavens, who hath given it birth?
30 when the waters become hard as stone and the surface of the deep is frozen?
Like a stone, are the waters congealed, and, the face of the roaring deep, becometh firm!
31 Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion?
Canst thou bind the fetters of the Pleiades? Or, the bands of Orion, canst thou unloose?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear and her cubs?
Canst thou bring forth the signs of the Zodiac each in its season? Or, the Bear and her Young, canst thou lead?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth?
Knowest thou, the statutes of the heavens? Or didst thou appoint his dominion over the earth?
34 Can you command the clouds so that a flood of water covers you?
Canst thou lift up, to the thick cloud, thy voice, and the overflow of waters cover thee?
35 Can you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
Canst thou send forth the lightnings, so that they go, and say to thee, Behold us?
36 Who has put wisdom in the heart or given understanding to the mind?
Who hath put—into cloud-forms—wisdom? Or who hath given—to the meteor—understanding?
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens
Who can count the thin clouds, in wisdom? And, the bottles of the heavens, who can empty out;
38 when the dust hardens into a mass and the clods of earth stick together?
When the dust is cast into a clod, and the lumps are bound together?
39 Can you hunt the prey for a lioness or satisfy the hunger of young lions
Wilt thou hunt—for the Lioness—prey? Or, the craving of the Strong Lion, wilt thou satisfy;
40 when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait in the thicket?
When they settle down in dens, abide in covert, for lying in wait?
41 Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?
Who prepareth for the Raven his nourishment, —when his young ones—unto GOD—cry out, [when] they wander for lack of food?
