Job 38
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
Then Yahweh spoke to Job from inside a great windstorm. He said to him,
2 “Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge?
“(Who are you to question what I plan to do?/You have no right/authority to question what I plan to do.) [RHQ] You are speaking ignorantly!
3 Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me.
I want to ask you [some] questions, so, just like men prepare themselves for a difficult task [MET], prepare to answer my questions.
4 Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.
(“Where were you/Were you there with me) [long ago] when I (laid the foundations of/created) the earth? Since you know so much, tell me [where you were at that time].
5 Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched a measuring line across it?
Do you know how I decided how large the earth would be? Do you know who stretched a measuring tape around the earth? Surely [since you think that you know so much, ] you should know that!
6 On what were its foundations set, or who laid its cornerstone,
What supports the pillars on which the earth rests? When the stars [that shine early] in the morning sang together, and someone put in place the stone that causes the earth to stay in its place, and all the angels shouted joyfully [when they saw that happening], who laid that cornerstone? [Did you?]
7 while 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,
“When the seas poured forth from inside the earth, who prevented the water from flooding over the land?
9 when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its blanket,
It was I, [not you, ] who caused clouds to come over the seas and caused it to become very dark [under those clouds].
10 when I fixed its boundaries and set in place its bars and doors,
I set limits for the seas, and I put barriers [so that the water would not come over the land].
11 and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther; here your proud waves must stop’?
[I pointed to the shore] and said to the water, ‘I permit you to come up to here, but I do not permit you to come any farther. Your powerful waves must stop there!’
12 In your days, have you commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place,
“Job, have you [ever] commanded the morning [to begin]? Have you [ever] told the dawn to start a new day?
13 that it might spread to the ends of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?
Have you [ever] told the dawn to spread out over the whole earth, with the result that wicked people run away from the light?
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.
When it becomes light after the dawn, the hills and the valleys become clear like the folds in a cloth.
15 Light is withheld from the wicked, and their upraised arm is broken.
When it becomes daylight, the wicked do not have the darkness [that they like]; [in the daylight] they no longer are able to raise up their arms, ready to hurt people.
16 Have you journeyed to the vents of the sea or walked in the trenches of the deep?
“[Job, ] have you traveled to the springs [in the bottom of the ocean] from which the water in the seas comes? Have you investigated/explored the very bottom of the oceans?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
Has someone shown you the gates to the place where dead people are, the gates to the place where it is very dark?
18 Have you surveyed the extent of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.
Do you know how big the earth is? Tell me, if you know all these things!
19 Where is the way to the home of light? Do you know where darkness resides,
“Where is the road to the place where light comes from? And [can you tell me] where darkness lives?
20 so you can lead it back to its border? Do you know the paths to its home?
Can take me to its home? Do you know where the road is that goes there?
21 Surely you know, for you were already born! And the number of your days is great!
I am sure that you know these things, because you [talk as though you] were born before the time when all things were created; you [must] be very old!
22 Have you entered the storehouses of snow or observed the storehouses of hail,
“Have you entered the place where I store the snow and the place where I keep the hail?
23 which I hold in reserve for times of trouble, for the day of war and battle?
I store the snow and the hail [in order that I can use them to help my people] when [they have] troubles, in times when [they are fighting] wars [DOU].
24 In which direction is the lightning dispersed, or the east wind scattered over the earth?
And where is the road to the place from which I cause the lightning to flash? Where is the place from where the east wind begins to blow over all the earth?
25 Who cuts a channel for the flood or clears a path for the thunderbolt,
Who created the channels in which the rain comes down from the sky? Who makes the roads for the thunder/lightning?
26 to bring rain on a barren land, on a desert where no man lives,
Who causes rain to fall in the desert, in places where no one lives?
27 to satisfy the parched wasteland and make it sprout with tender grass?
Who sends the rain that gives moisture/water to areas where nothing has grown, with the result that grass begins to grow again?
28 Does the rain have a father? Who has begotten the drops of dew?
Does the rain have a father? Does the dew [also] have a father?
29 From whose womb does the ice emerge? Who gives birth to the frost from heaven,
And from whose womb does ice come [in the (winter/cold season)]? Who gives birth to the frost that comes down from the sky?
30 when the waters become hard as stone and the surface of the deep is frozen?
[In the winter, ] the water [freezes and] becomes hard, like a rock, and the surface of lakes becomes frozen.
31 Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion?
“[Job], can you fasten the chains that hold the stars together in clusters/groups in the sky?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear and her cubs?
Can you tell the stars when they should shine? Can you guide [the stars in the groups in the northern sky whose names are] the Big Bear and the Little Bear?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth?
Do you know the laws that the stars must obey? Can you cause those same laws to rule [everything here] on the earth?
34 Can you command the clouds so that a flood of water covers you?
“Can you shout to the clouds and cause rain to pour down on you?
35 Can you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
Can you cause flashes of lightning to come down and strike where you want it to strike? Do those flashes say to you, ‘Where do you want us to strike next?’
36 Who has put wisdom in the heart or given understanding to the mind?
Who enables the clouds to know when they should cause rain to fall?
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens
And who is skilled/wise enough to be able to count the clouds? Who can tilt the jugs of water in the sky [to cause the rain to fall],
38 when the dust hardens into a mass and the clods of earth stick together?
with the result that the dry ground becomes hard as the dry (clods/lumps of soil) [become wet and] stick together?
39 Can you hunt the prey for a lioness or satisfy the hunger of young lions
“When a lioness and her cubs crouch in their dens or hide in a thicket, [waiting for some animal to pass by that they can kill, ] can you find animals for a lioness to kill so that [she and] her cubs can [eat the meat and] not be hungry any more?
40 when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait in the thicket?
41 Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?
Who provides dead animals for crows, when the baby crows are calling out to me [for food], [when they are so weak] because of their lack of food [that] they (stagger around/can hardly stand up) [in their nests]?”
