Job 38
1 And YHWH answers Job out of the whirlwind and says:
Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
2 “Who [is] this—darkening counsel, By words without knowledge?
“Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Now gird your loins as a man, And I ask you, and you cause Me to know.
Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me.
4 Where were you when I founded the earth? Declare, if you have known understanding.
Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.
5 Who placed its measures—if you know? Or who has stretched out a line on it?
Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what have its sockets been sunk? Or who has cast its cornerstone—
On what were its foundations set, or who laid its cornerstone,
7 In the singing together of [the] stars of morning, When all [the] sons of God shout for joy?
while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 And He shuts up the sea with doors, In its coming forth, it goes out from the womb.
Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,
9 In My making a cloud its clothing, And thick darkness its swaddling band,
when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its blanket,
10 And I measure My statute over it, And place bar and doors,
when I fixed its boundaries and set in place its bars and doors,
11 And say, To here you come, and no more, And a command is placed On the pride of your billows.
and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther; here your proud waves must stop’?
12 Have you commanded morning since your days? Do you cause the dawn to know its place?
In your days, have you commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place,
13 To take hold on the skirts of the earth, And the wicked are shaken out of it,
that it might spread to the ends of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?
14 It turns itself as clay of a seal And they station themselves as clothed.
The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.
15 And their light is withheld from the wicked, And the arm lifted up is broken.
Light is withheld from the wicked, and their upraised arm is broken.
16 Have you come to springs of the sea? And in searching the deep Have you walked up and down?
Have you journeyed to the vents of the sea or walked in the trenches of the deep?
17 Were the gates of death revealed to you? And do you see the gates of death-shade?
Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
18 You have understanding, Even to the broad places of earth! Declare—if you have known it all.
Have you surveyed the extent of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.
19 Where [is] this—the way light dwells? And darkness, where [is] this—its place?
Where is the way to the home of light? Do you know where darkness resides,
20 That you take it to its boundary, And that you understand the paths of its house.
so you can lead it back to its border? Do you know the paths to its home?
21 You have known—for then you are born, And the number of your days [are] many!
Surely you know, for you were already born! And the number of your days is great!
22 Have you come to the treasure of snow? Indeed, do you see the treasures of hail,
Have you entered the storehouses of snow or observed the storehouses of hail,
23 That I have kept back for a time of distress, For a day of conflict and battle?
which I hold in reserve for times of trouble, for the day of war and battle?
24 Where [is] this, the way light is apportioned? It scatters an east wind over the earth.
In which direction is the lightning dispersed, or the east wind scattered over the earth?
25 Who has divided a conduit for the flood? And a way for the lightning of the voices?
Who cuts a channel for the flood or clears a path for the thunderbolt,
26 To cause [it] to rain on a land [with] no man, A wilderness [with] no man in it.
to bring rain on a barren land, on a desert where no man lives,
27 To satisfy a desolate and ruined place, And to cause to shoot up The produce of the tender grass?
to satisfy the parched wasteland and make it sprout with tender grass?
28 Does the rain have a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?
Does the rain have a father? Who has begotten the drops of dew?
29 From whose belly came forth the ice? And the hoarfrost of the heavens, Who has begotten it?
From whose womb does the ice emerge? Who gives birth to the frost from heaven,
30 Waters are hidden as a stone, And the face of the deep is captured.
when the waters become hard as stone and the surface of the deep is frozen?
31 Do you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Or do you open the cords of Orion?
Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion?
32 Do you bring out the twelve signs in [their] season? And do you comfort the Great Bear over her sons?
Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear and her cubs?
33 Have you known the statutes of the heavens? Or do you appoint Its dominion in the earth?
Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth?
34 Do you lift up your voice to the cloud, And abundance of water covers you?
Can you command the clouds so that a flood of water covers you?
35 Do you send out lightnings, and they go And say to you, Behold us?
Can you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the covered part?
Who has put wisdom in the heart or given understanding to the mind?
37 Who numbers the clouds by wisdom? And the bottles of the heavens, Who causes to lie down,
Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens
38 In the hardening of dust into hardness, And clods cleave together?
when the dust hardens into a mass and the clods of earth stick together?
39 Do you hunt prey for a lion? And fulfill the desire of young lions?
Can you hunt the prey for a lioness or satisfy the hunger of young lions
40 When they bow down in dens—Abide in a thicket for a covert?
when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait in the thicket?
41 Who prepares for a raven his provision, When his young ones cry to God? They wander without food.”
Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?
