Job 38
1 And the Lord made answer to Job out of the storm-wind, and said,
Then Yahweh spoke to Job from inside a great windstorm. He said to him,
2 Who is this who makes the purpose of God dark 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 Get your strength together like a man of war; I will put questions to you, and you will give me the answers.
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 put the earth on its base? Say, if you have knowledge.
(“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 By whom were its measures fixed? Say, if you have wisdom; or by whom was the line stretched out over 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 pillars based, or who put down its angle-stone,
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 When the morning stars made songs together, and all the sons of the gods gave cries of joy?
8 Or where were you when the sea came to birth, pushing out from its secret place;
“When the seas poured forth from inside the earth, who prevented the water from flooding over the land?
9 When I made the cloud its robe, and put thick clouds as bands round it,
It was I, [not you, ] who caused clouds to come over the seas and caused it to become very dark [under those clouds].
10 Ordering a fixed limit for it, with locks and doors;
I set limits for the seas, and I put barriers [so that the water would not come over the land].
11 And said, So far you may come, and no farther; and here the pride of your waves will be stopped?
[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 Have you, from your earliest days, given orders to the morning, or made the dawn conscious of its place;
“Job, have you [ever] commanded the morning [to begin]? Have you [ever] told the dawn to start a new day?
13 So that it might take a grip of the skirts of the earth, shaking all the evil-doers 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 It is changed like wet earth under a stamp, and is coloured like a robe;
When it becomes light after the dawn, the hills and the valleys become clear like the folds in a cloth.
15 And from the evil-doers their light is kept back, and the arm of pride 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 come into the springs of the sea, walking in the secret places 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 doors of death been open to you, or have the door-keepers of the dark ever seen you?
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 taken note of the wide limits of the earth? Say, if you have knowledge of it all.
Do you know how big the earth is? Tell me, if you know all these things!
19 Which is the way to the resting-place of the light, and where is the store-house of the dark;
“Where is the road to the place where light comes from? And [can you tell me] where darkness lives?
20 So that you might take it to its limit, guiding it to its house?
Can take me to its home? Do you know where the road is that goes there?
21 No doubt you have knowledge of it, for then you had come to birth, 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 come into the secret place of snow, or have you seen the store-houses of the ice-drops,
“Have you entered the place where I store the snow and the place where I keep the hail?
23 Which I have kept for the time of trouble, for the day of war and fighting?
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 Which is the way to the place where the wind is measured out, and the east wind sent out 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 By whom has the way been cut for the flowing of the rain, and the flaming of the thunder;
Who created the channels in which the rain comes down from the sky? Who makes the roads for the thunder/lightning?
26 Causing rain to come on a land where no man is living, on the waste land which has no people;
Who causes rain to fall in the desert, in places where no one lives?
27 To give water to the land where there is waste and destruction, and to make the dry land green with young 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 Has the rain a father? or who gave birth to the drops of night mist?
Does the rain have a father? Does the dew [also] have a father?
29 Out of whose body came the ice? and who gave birth to the cold mist of 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 The waters are joined together, hard as a stone, and the face of the deep is covered.
[In the winter, ] the water [freezes and] becomes hard, like a rock, and the surface of lakes becomes frozen.
31 Are the bands of the Pleiades fixed by you, or are the cords of Orion made loose?
“[Job], can you fasten the chains that hold the stars together in clusters/groups in the sky?
32 Do you make Mazzaroth come out in its right time, or are the Bear and its children guided by you?
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 Have you knowledge of the laws of the heavens? did you give them rule 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 Is your voice sent up to the cloud, so that you may be covered by the weight of waters?
“Can you shout to the clouds and cause rain to pour down on you?
35 Do you send out the thunder-flames, so that they may go, and say 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 high clouds, or given knowledge to the lights of the north?
Who enables the clouds to know when they should cause rain to fall?
37 By whose wisdom are the clouds numbered, or the water-skins of the heavens turned to the earth,
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 earth becomes hard as metal, and is joined together in masses?
with the result that the dry ground becomes hard as the dry (clods/lumps of soil) [become wet and] stick together?
39 Do you go after food for the she-lion, or get meat so that the young lions may have enough,
“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 are stretched out in their holes, and are waiting in the brushwood?
41 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?
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]?”
