< Job 38 >
1 And after Elius had ceased from speaking, the Lord spoke to Job through the whirlwind and clouds, [saying],
2 Who is this that hides counsel from me, and confines words in [his] heart, and thinks to conceal [them] from me?
3 Gird thy loins like a man; and I will ask thee, and do thou answer me.
4 Where wast thou when I founded the earth? tell me now, if thou hast knowledge,
5 who set the measures of it, if thou knowest? or who stretched a line upon it?
6 On what are its rings fastened? and who is he that laid the corner-stone upon it?
7 When the stars were made, all my angels praised me with a loud voice.
8 And I shut up the sea with gates, when it rushed out, coming forth out its mother's womb.
9 And I made a cloud its clothing, and swathed it in mist.
10 And I set bounds to it, surrounding it with bars and gates.
11 And I said to it, Hitherto shalt thou come, but thou shalt not go beyond, but thy waves shall be confined within thee.
12 Or did I order the morning light in thy time; and [did] the morning star [then first] see his appointed place;
13 to lay hold of the extremities of the earth, to cast out the ungodly out of it?
14 Or didst thou take clay of the ground, and form a living creature, and set it with the power of speech upon the earth?
15 And hast thou removed light from the ungodly, and crushed the arm of the proud?
16 Or hast thou gone to the source of the sea, and walked in the tracks of the deep?
17 And do the gates of death open to thee for fear; and did the porters of hell quake when they saw thee? ()
18 And hast thou been instructed in the breadth of the [whole earth] under heaven? tell me now, what is the extent of it?
19 And in what kind of a land does the light dwell? and of what kind is the place of darkness?
20 If thou couldest bring me to their [utmost] boundaries, and if also thou knowest their paths;
21 I know then that thou wert born at that time, and the number of thy years is great.
22 But hast thou gone to the treasures of snow? and hast thou seen the treasures of hail?
23 And is there a store [of them], for thee against the time of [thine] enemies, for the day of wars and battle?
24 And whence proceeds the frost? or [whence] is the south wind dispersed over the [whole world] under heaven?
25 And who prepared a course for the violent rain, and a way for the thunders;
26 to rain upon the land where [there is] no man, the wilderness, where there is not a man in it; so as to feed the untrodden and uninhabited [land],
27 and cause it to send forth a crop of green herbs?
28 Who is the rain's father? and who has generated the drops of dew?
29 And out of whose womb comes the ice? and who has produced the frost in the sky,
30 which descends like flowing water? who has terrified the face of the ungodly?
31 And dost thou understand the band of Pleias, and hast thou opened the barrier of Orion?
32 Or wilt thou reveal Mazuroth in his season, and the evening star with his rays? Wilt thou guide them?
33 And knowest thou the changes of heaven, or the events which take place together under heaven?
34 And wilt thou call a cloud with thy voice, and will it obey thee with a violent shower of much rain?
35 And wilt thou send lightnings, and they shall go? and shall they say to thee, What is [thy pleasure]?
36 And who has given to women skill in weaving, or knowledge of embroidery?
37 And who is he that numbers the clouds in wisdom, and has bowed the heaven [down] to the earth?
38 For it is spread out as dusty earth, and I have cemented it as one hewn stone to another.
39 And wilt thou hunt a prey for the lions? and satisfy the desires of the serpents?
40 For they fear in their lairs, and lying in wait couch in the woods.
41 And who has prepared food for the raven? for its young ones wander and cry to the Lord, in search of food.
