Job 38
1 And after Elius had ceased from speaking, the Lord spoke to Job through the whirlwind and clouds, [saying],
And the Lord made answer to Job out of the storm-wind, and said,
2 Who is this that hides counsel from me, and confines words in [his] heart, and thinks to conceal [them] from me?
Who is this who makes the purpose of God dark by words without knowledge?
3 Gird your loins like a man; and I will ask you, and do you answer 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 was you when I founded the earth? tell me now, if you have knowledge,
Where were you when I put the earth on its base? Say, if you have knowledge.
5 who set the measures of it, if you know? or who stretched a 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 On what are its rings fastened? and who is he that laid the corner-stone upon it?
On what were its pillars based, or who put down its angle-stone,
7 When the stars were made, all my angels praised me with a loud voice.
When the morning stars made songs together, and all the sons of the gods gave cries of joy?
8 And I shut up the sea with gates, when it rushed out, coming forth out its mother's womb.
Or where were you when the sea came to birth, pushing out from its secret place;
9 And I made a cloud its clothing, and swathed it in mist.
When I made the cloud its robe, and put thick clouds as bands round it,
10 And I set bounds to it, surrounding it with bars and gates.
Ordering a fixed limit for it, with locks and doors;
11 And I said to it, Hitherto shall you come, but you shall not go beyond, but your waves shall be confined within you.
And said, So far you may come, and no farther; and here the pride of your waves will be stopped?
12 Or did I order the morning light in your time; and [did] the morning star [then first] see his appointed place;
Have you, from your earliest days, given orders to the morning, or made the dawn conscious of its place;
13 to lay hold of the extremities of the earth, to cast out 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 Or did you take clay of the ground, and form a living creature, and set it with the power of speech upon the earth?
It is changed like wet earth under a stamp, and is coloured like a robe;
15 And have you removed light from the ungodly, and crushed the arm of the proud?
And from the evil-doers their light is kept back, and the arm of pride is broken.
16 Or have you gone to the source of the sea, and walked in the tracks of the deep?
Have you come into the springs of the sea, walking in the secret places of the deep?
17 And do the gates of death open to you for fear; and did the porters of hell quake when they saw you? (questioned)
Have the doors of death been open to you, or have the door-keepers of the dark ever seen you?
18 And have you been instructed in the breadth of the [whole earth] under heaven? tell me now, what is the extent of it?
Have you taken note of the wide limits of the earth? Say, if you have knowledge of it all.
19 And in what kind of a land does the light dwell? and of what kind 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 If you could bring me to their [utmost] boundaries, and if also you know their paths;
So that you might take it to its limit, guiding it to its house?
21 I know then that you were born at that time, and the number of your years is great.
No doubt you have knowledge of it, for then you had come to birth, and the number of your days is great.
22 But have you gone to the treasures of snow? and have you seen the treasures of hail?
Have you come into the secret place of snow, or have you seen the store-houses of the ice-drops,
23 And is there a store [of them], for you against the time of [your] enemies, for the day of wars and battle?
Which I have kept for the time of trouble, for the day of war and fighting?
24 And whence proceeds the frost? or [whence] is the south wind dispersed over the [whole world] under heaven?
Which is the way to the place where the wind is measured out, and the east wind sent out over the earth?
25 And who prepared a course for the violent rain, and a way for the thunders;
By whom has the way been cut for the flowing of the rain, and the flaming of the thunder;
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],
Causing rain to come on a land where no man is living, on the waste land which has no people;
27 and cause it to send forth a crop of green herbs?
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 rain's father? and who has generated the drops of dew?
Has the rain a father? or who gave birth to the drops of night mist?
29 And out of whose womb comes the ice? and who has produced the frost in the sky,
Out of whose body came the ice? and who gave birth to the cold mist of heaven?
30 which descends like flowing water? who has terrified the face of the ungodly?
The waters are joined together, hard as a stone, and the face of the deep is covered.
31 And do you understand the band of Pleias, and have you opened the barrier of Orion?
Are the bands of the Pleiades fixed by you, or are the cords of Orion made loose?
32 Or will you reveal Mazuroth in his season, and the evening star with his rays? Will you guide them?
Do you make Mazzaroth come out in its right time, or are the Bear and its children guided by you?
33 And know you the changes of heaven, or the events which take place together under heaven?
Have you knowledge of the laws of the heavens? did you give them rule over the earth?
34 And will you call a cloud with your voice, and will it obey you with a violent shower of much rain?
Is your voice sent up to the cloud, so that you may be covered by the weight of waters?
35 And will you send lightnings, and they shall go? and shall they say to you, What is [your pleasure]?
Do you send out the thunder-flames, so that they may go, and say to you, Here we are?
36 And who has given to women skill in weaving, or knowledge of embroidery?
Who has put wisdom in the high clouds, or given knowledge to the lights of the north?
37 And who is he that numbers the clouds in wisdom, and has bowed the heaven [down] to the earth?
By whose wisdom are the clouds numbered, or the water-skins of the heavens turned to the earth,
38 For it is spread out as dusty earth, and I have cemented it as one hewn stone to another.
When the earth becomes hard as metal, and is joined together in masses?
39 And will you hunt a prey for the lions? and satisfy the desires of the serpents?
Do you go after food for the she-lion, or get meat so that the young lions may have enough,
40 For they fear in their lairs, and lying in wait couch in the woods.
When they are stretched out in their holes, and are waiting in the brushwood?
41 And who has prepared food for the raven? for its young ones wander and cry to the Lord, in search of food.
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?
