Job 38
1 Then the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind, and said:
And the Lord made answer to Job out of the storm-wind, and said,
2 Who is this that wrappeth up sentences in unskillful words?
Who is this who makes the purpose of God dark by words without knowledge?
3 Gird up thy loins like a man: I will ask thee, and answer thou me.
Get your strength together like a man of war; I will put questions to you, and you will give me the answers.
4 Where wast thou when I laid up the foundations of the earth? tell me if thou hast understanding.
Where were you when I put the earth on its base? Say, if you have knowledge.
5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
By whom were its measures fixed? Say, if you have wisdom; or by whom was the line stretched out over it?
6 Upon what are its bases grounded? or who laid the corner stone thereof,
On what were its pillars based, or who put down its angle-stone,
7 When the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody?
When the morning stars made songs together, and all the sons of the gods gave cries of joy?
8 Who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth as issuing out of the womb:
Or where were you when the sea came to birth, pushing out from its secret place;
9 When I made a cloud the garment thereof, and wrapped it in a mist as in swaddling bands?
When I made the cloud its robe, and put thick clouds as bands round it,
10 I set my bounds around it, and made it bars and doors:
Ordering a fixed limit for it, with locks and doors;
11 And I said: Hitherto thou shalt come, and shalt go no further, and here thou shalt break thy swelling waves.
And said, So far you may come, and no farther; and here the pride of your waves will be stopped?
12 Didst thou since thy birth command the morning, and shew the dawning of the day its place?
Have you, from your earliest days, given orders to the morning, or made the dawn conscious of its place;
13 And didst thou hold the extremities of the earth shaking them, and hast thou shaken the ungodly out of it?
So that it might take a grip of the skirts of the earth, shaking all the evil-doers out of it?
14 The seal shall be restored as clay, and shall stand as a garment:
It is changed like wet earth under a stamp, and is coloured like a robe;
15 From the wicked their light shall be taken away, and the high arm shall be broken.
And from the evil-doers their light is kept back, and the arm of pride is broken.
16 Hast thou entered into the depths of the sea, and walked in the lowest parts of the deep?
Have you come into the springs of the sea, walking in the secret places of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been opened to thee, and hast thou seen the darksome doors?
Have the doors of death been open to you, or have the door-keepers of the dark ever seen you?
18 Hast thou considered the breadth of the earth? tell me, if thou knowest all things?
Have you taken note of the wide limits of the earth? Say, if you have knowledge of it all.
19 Where is the way where light dwelleth, and where is the place of darkness:
Which is the way to the resting-place of the light, and where is the store-house of the dark;
20 That thou mayst bring every thing to its own bounds, and understand the paths of the house thereof.
So that you might take it to its limit, guiding it to its house?
21 Didst thou know then that thou shouldst be born? and didst thou know the number of thy days?
No doubt you have knowledge of it, for then you had come to birth, and the number of your days is great.
22 Hast thou entered into the storehouses of the snow, or has thou beheld the treasures of the hail:
Have you come into the secret place of snow, or have you seen the store-houses of the ice-drops,
23 Which I have prepared for the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war?
Which I have kept for the time of trouble, for the day of war and fighting?
24 By what way is the light spread, and heat divided upon the earth?
Which is the way to the place where the wind is measured out, and the east wind sent out over the earth?
25 Who gave a course to violent showers, or a way for noisy thunder:
By whom has the way been cut for the flowing of the rain, and the flaming of the thunder;
26 That it should rain on the earth without man in the wilderness, where no mortal dwelleth:
Causing rain to come on a land where no man is living, on the waste land which has no people;
27 That it should fill the desert and desolate land, and should bring forth green grass?
To give water to the land where there is waste and destruction, and to make the dry land green with young grass?
28 Who is the father of rain? or who begot the drops of dew?
Has the rain a father? or who gave birth to the drops of night mist?
29 Out of whose womb came the ice; and the frost from heaven who hath gendered it?
Out of whose body came the ice? and who gave birth to the cold mist of heaven?
30 The waters are hardened like a stone, and the surface of the deep is congealed.
The waters are joined together, hard as a stone, and the face of the deep is covered.
31 Shalt thou be able to join together the shining stars the Pleiades, or canst thou stop the turning about of Arcturus?
Are the bands of the Pleiades fixed by you, or are the cords of Orion made loose?
32 Canst thou bring forth the day star in its time, and make the evening star to rise upon the children of the earth?
Do you make Mazzaroth come out in its right time, or are the Bear and its children guided by you?
33 Dost thou know the order of heaven, and canst thou set down the reason thereof on the earth?
Have you knowledge of the laws of the heavens? did you give them rule over the earth?
34 Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that an abundance of waters may cover thee?
Is your voice sent up to the cloud, so that you may be covered by the weight of waters?
35 Canst thou send lightnings, and will they go, and will they return and say to thee: Here we are?
Do you send out the thunder-flames, so that they may go, and say to you, Here we are?
36 Who hath put wisdom in the heart of man? or who gave the cock understanding?
Who has put wisdom in the high clouds, or given knowledge to the lights of the north?
37 Who can declare the order of the heavens, or who can make the harmony of heaven to sleep?
By whose wisdom are the clouds numbered, or the water-skins of the heavens turned to the earth,
38 When was the dust poured on the earth, and the clods fastened together?
When the earth becomes hard as metal, and is joined together in masses?
39 Wilt thou take the prey for the lioness, and satisfy the appetite of her whelps,
Do you go after food for the she-lion, or get meat so that the young lions may have enough,
40 When they couch in the dens and lie in wait in holes?
When they are stretched out in their holes, and are waiting in the brushwood?
41 Who provideth food for the raven, when her young ones cry to God, wandering about, because they have no meat?
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?
