Job 38
1 And YHWH answers Job out of the whirlwind and says:
Then Yahweh spoke to Job from inside a great windstorm. He said to him,
2 “Who [is] this—darkening counsel, By words without knowledge?
“(Who are you to question what I plan to do?/You have no right/authority to question what I plan to do.) [RHQ] You are speaking ignorantly!
3 Now gird your loins as a man, And I ask you, and you cause Me to know.
I want to ask you [some] questions, so, just like men prepare themselves for a difficult task [MET], prepare to answer my questions.
4 Where were you when I founded the earth? Declare, if you have known understanding.
(“Where were you/Were you there with me) [long ago] when I (laid the foundations of/created) the earth? Since you know so much, tell me [where you were at that time].
5 Who placed its measures—if you know? Or who has stretched out a line on it?
Do you know how I decided how large the earth would be? Do you know who stretched a measuring tape around the earth? Surely [since you think that you know so much, ] you should know that!
6 On what have its sockets been sunk? Or who has cast its cornerstone—
What supports the pillars on which the earth rests? When the stars [that shine early] in the morning sang together, and someone put in place the stone that causes the earth to stay in its place, and all the angels shouted joyfully [when they saw that happening], who laid that cornerstone? [Did you?]
7 In the singing together of [the] stars of morning, When all [the] sons of God shout for joy?
8 And He shuts up the sea with doors, In its coming forth, it goes out from the womb.
“When the seas poured forth from inside the earth, who prevented the water from flooding over the land?
9 In My making a cloud its clothing, And thick darkness its swaddling band,
It was I, [not you, ] who caused clouds to come over the seas and caused it to become very dark [under those clouds].
10 And I measure My statute over it, And place bar and doors,
I set limits for the seas, and I put barriers [so that the water would not come over the land].
11 And say, To here you come, and no more, And a command is placed On the pride of your billows.
[I pointed to the shore] and said to the water, ‘I permit you to come up to here, but I do not permit you to come any farther. Your powerful waves must stop there!’
12 Have you commanded morning since your days? Do you cause the dawn to know its place?
“Job, have you [ever] commanded the morning [to begin]? Have you [ever] told the dawn to start a new day?
13 To take hold on the skirts of the earth, And the wicked are shaken out of it,
Have you [ever] told the dawn to spread out over the whole earth, with the result that wicked people run away from the light?
14 It turns itself as clay of a seal And they station themselves as clothed.
When it becomes light after the dawn, the hills and the valleys become clear like the folds in a cloth.
15 And their light is withheld from the wicked, And the arm lifted up is broken.
When it becomes daylight, the wicked do not have the darkness [that they like]; [in the daylight] they no longer are able to raise up their arms, ready to hurt people.
16 Have you come to springs of the sea? And in searching the deep Have you walked up and down?
“[Job, ] have you traveled to the springs [in the bottom of the ocean] from which the water in the seas comes? Have you investigated/explored the very bottom of the oceans?
17 Were the gates of death revealed to you? And do you see the gates of death-shade?
Has someone shown you the gates to the place where dead people are, the gates to the place where it is very dark?
18 You have understanding, Even to the broad places of earth! Declare—if you have known it all.
Do you know how big the earth is? Tell me, if you know all these things!
19 Where [is] this—the way light dwells? And darkness, where [is] this—its place?
“Where is the road to the place where light comes from? And [can you tell me] where darkness lives?
20 That you take it to its boundary, And that you understand the paths of its house.
Can take me to its home? Do you know where the road is that goes there?
21 You have known—for then you are born, And the number of your days [are] many!
I am sure that you know these things, because you [talk as though you] were born before the time when all things were created; you [must] be very old!
22 Have you come to the treasure of snow? Indeed, do you see the treasures of hail,
“Have you entered the place where I store the snow and the place where I keep the hail?
23 That I have kept back for a time of distress, For a day of conflict and battle?
I store the snow and the hail [in order that I can use them to help my people] when [they have] troubles, in times when [they are fighting] wars [DOU].
24 Where [is] this, the way light is apportioned? It scatters an east wind over the earth.
And where is the road to the place from which I cause the lightning to flash? Where is the place from where the east wind begins to blow over all the earth?
25 Who has divided a conduit for the flood? And a way for the lightning of the voices?
Who created the channels in which the rain comes down from the sky? Who makes the roads for the thunder/lightning?
26 To cause [it] to rain on a land [with] no man, A wilderness [with] no man in it.
Who causes rain to fall in the desert, in places where no one lives?
27 To satisfy a desolate and ruined place, And to cause to shoot up The produce of the tender grass?
Who sends the rain that gives moisture/water to areas where nothing has grown, with the result that grass begins to grow again?
28 Does the rain have a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?
Does the rain have a father? Does the dew [also] have a father?
29 From whose belly came forth the ice? And the hoarfrost of the heavens, Who has begotten it?
And from whose womb does ice come [in the (winter/cold season)]? Who gives birth to the frost that comes down from the sky?
30 Waters are hidden as a stone, And the face of the deep is captured.
[In the winter, ] the water [freezes and] becomes hard, like a rock, and the surface of lakes becomes frozen.
31 Do you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Or do you open the cords of Orion?
“[Job], can you fasten the chains that hold the stars together in clusters/groups in the sky?
32 Do you bring out the twelve signs in [their] season? And do you comfort the Great Bear over her sons?
Can you tell the stars when they should shine? Can you guide [the stars in the groups in the northern sky whose names are] the Big Bear and the Little Bear?
33 Have you known the statutes of the heavens? Or do you appoint Its dominion in the earth?
Do you know the laws that the stars must obey? Can you cause those same laws to rule [everything here] on the earth?
34 Do you lift up your voice to the cloud, And abundance of water covers you?
“Can you shout to the clouds and cause rain to pour down on you?
35 Do you send out lightnings, and they go And say to you, Behold us?
Can you cause flashes of lightning to come down and strike where you want it to strike? Do those flashes say to you, ‘Where do you want us to strike next?’
36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the covered part?
Who enables the clouds to know when they should cause rain to fall?
37 Who numbers the clouds by wisdom? And the bottles of the heavens, Who causes to lie down,
And who is skilled/wise enough to be able to count the clouds? Who can tilt the jugs of water in the sky [to cause the rain to fall],
38 In the hardening of dust into hardness, And clods cleave together?
with the result that the dry ground becomes hard as the dry (clods/lumps of soil) [become wet and] stick together?
39 Do you hunt prey for a lion? And fulfill the desire of young lions?
“When a lioness and her cubs crouch in their dens or hide in a thicket, [waiting for some animal to pass by that they can kill, ] can you find animals for a lioness to kill so that [she and] her cubs can [eat the meat and] not be hungry any more?
40 When they bow down in dens—Abide in a thicket for a covert?
41 Who prepares for a raven his provision, When his young ones cry to God? They wander without food.”
Who provides dead animals for crows, when the baby crows are calling out to me [for food], [when they are so weak] because of their lack of food [that] they (stagger around/can hardly stand up) [in their nests]?”
