Job 38
1 And YHWH answers Job out of the whirlwind and says:
And the Lord made answer to Job out of the storm-wind, and said,
2 “Who [is] this—darkening counsel, By words without knowledge?
Who is this who makes the purpose of God dark by words without knowledge?
3 Now gird your loins as a man, And I ask you, and you cause Me to know.
Get your strength together like a man of war; I will put questions to you, and you will give me the answers.
4 Where were you when I founded the earth? Declare, if you have known understanding.
Where were you when I put the earth on its base? Say, if you have knowledge.
5 Who placed its measures—if you know? Or who has stretched out a line on 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 have its sockets been sunk? Or who has cast its cornerstone—
On what were its pillars based, or who put down its angle-stone,
7 In the singing together of [the] stars of morning, When all [the] sons of God shout for joy?
When the morning stars made songs together, and all the sons of the gods gave cries of joy?
8 And He shuts up the sea with doors, In its coming forth, it goes out from the womb.
Or where were you when the sea came to birth, pushing out from its secret place;
9 In My making a cloud its clothing, And thick darkness its swaddling band,
When I made the cloud its robe, and put thick clouds as bands round it,
10 And I measure My statute over it, And place bar and doors,
Ordering a fixed limit for it, with locks and doors;
11 And say, To here you come, and no more, And a command is placed On the pride of your billows.
And said, So far you may come, and no farther; and here the pride of your waves will be stopped?
12 Have you commanded morning since your days? Do you cause the dawn to know its place?
Have you, from your earliest days, given orders to the morning, or made the dawn conscious of its place;
13 To take hold on the skirts of the earth, And the wicked are shaken 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 It turns itself as clay of a seal And they station themselves as clothed.
It is changed like wet earth under a stamp, and is coloured like a robe;
15 And their light is withheld from the wicked, And the arm lifted up is broken.
And from the evil-doers their light is kept back, and the arm of pride is broken.
16 Have you come to springs of the sea? And in searching the deep Have you walked up and down?
Have you come into the springs of the sea, walking in the secret places of the deep?
17 Were the gates of death revealed to you? And do you see the gates of death-shade?
Have the doors of death been open to you, or have the door-keepers of the dark ever seen you?
18 You have understanding, Even to the broad places of earth! Declare—if you have known it all.
Have you taken note of the wide limits of the earth? Say, if you have knowledge of it all.
19 Where [is] this—the way light dwells? And darkness, where [is] this—its place?
Which is the way to the resting-place of the light, and where is the store-house of the dark;
20 That you take it to its boundary, And that you understand the paths of its house.
So that you might take it to its limit, guiding it to its house?
21 You have known—for then you are born, And the number of your days [are] many!
No doubt you have knowledge of it, for then you had come to birth, 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 come into the secret place of snow, or have you seen the store-houses of the ice-drops,
23 That I have kept back for a time of distress, For a day of conflict and battle?
Which I have kept for the time of trouble, for the day of war and fighting?
24 Where [is] this, the way light is apportioned? It scatters an east wind over 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 has divided a conduit for the flood? And a way for the lightning of the voices?
By whom has the way been cut for the flowing of the rain, and the flaming of the thunder;
26 To cause [it] to rain on a land [with] no man, A wilderness [with] no man in it.
Causing rain to come on a land where no man is living, on the waste land which has no people;
27 To satisfy a desolate and ruined place, And to cause to shoot up The produce of the tender grass?
To give water to the land where there is waste and destruction, and to make the dry land green with young grass?
28 Does the rain have a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?
Has the rain a father? or who gave birth to the drops of night mist?
29 From whose belly came forth the ice? And the hoarfrost of the heavens, Who has begotten it?
Out of whose body came the ice? and who gave birth to the cold mist of heaven?
30 Waters are hidden as a stone, And the face of the deep is captured.
The waters are joined together, hard as a stone, and the face of the deep is covered.
31 Do you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Or do you open the cords of Orion?
Are the bands of the Pleiades fixed by you, or are the cords of Orion made loose?
32 Do you bring out the twelve signs in [their] season? And do you comfort the Great Bear over her sons?
Do you make Mazzaroth come out in its right time, or are the Bear and its children guided by you?
33 Have you known the statutes of the heavens? Or do you appoint Its dominion in the earth?
Have you knowledge of the laws of the heavens? did you give them rule over the earth?
34 Do you lift up your voice to the cloud, And abundance of water covers you?
Is your voice sent up to the cloud, so that you may be covered by the weight of waters?
35 Do you send out lightnings, and they go And say to you, Behold us?
Do you send out the thunder-flames, so that they may go, and say 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 high clouds, or given knowledge to the lights of the north?
37 Who numbers the clouds by wisdom? And the bottles of the heavens, Who causes to lie down,
By whose wisdom are the clouds numbered, or the water-skins of the heavens turned to the earth,
38 In the hardening of dust into hardness, And clods cleave together?
When the earth becomes hard as metal, and is joined together in masses?
39 Do you hunt prey for a lion? And fulfill the desire of young lions?
Do you go after food for the she-lion, or get meat so that the young lions may have enough,
40 When they bow down in dens—Abide in a thicket for a covert?
When they are stretched out in their holes, and are waiting in the brushwood?
41 Who prepares for a raven his provision, When his young ones cry to God? They wander without 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?
