Job 38

1 Then Yahweh responded to Job, out of a storm, and said: —

2 Who is it that darkeneth counsel, by words, without knowledge?

3 Gird, I pray thee—like a strong man—thy loins, that I may ask thee, and inform thou me:

4 Where wast thou, when I founded the earth? Tell, if thou knowest understanding!

5 Who set the measurements thereof, if thou knowest? Or who stretched out over it a line?

6 Whereon were the pedestals thereof sunk? Or who laid the corner stone thereof; —

7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8 Or [who] shut in, with double doors, the sea, when, bursting out of the womb, it came forth;

9 When I put a cloud as the garment thereof, and a thick cloud as the swaddling-band thereof;

10 And brake off for it my boundary, and fixed a bar and double doors;

11 And said—Hitherto, shalt thou come, and no further, —and, here, shalt thou set a limit to the majesty of thy waves?

12 Since thy days [began] hast thou commanded the morning? or caused the dawn to know its place;

13 That it might lay hold of the wings of the earth, and the lawless be shaken out of it?

14 It transformeth itself like the clay of a seal, so that things stand forth like one arrayed;

15 That their light may be withdrawn from the lawless, and, the lofty arm, be shivered.

16 Hast thou entered as far as the springs of the sea? Or, through the secret recesses of the resounding deep, hast thou wandered?

17 Have the gates of death been disclosed to thee? And, the gates of the death-shade, couldst thou descry?

18 Hast thou well considered, even the breadths of the earth? Tell—if thou knowest it all!

19 Where then is the way, the light shall abide? And, the darkness, where then is its place?

20 That thou mayest conduct it unto the bound thereof, and that thou mayest perceive the paths to its house.

21 Thou knowest, for, then, hadst thou been born! And, in number, thy days are many!

22 Hast thou entered into the treasuries of the snow? And, the treasuries of the hail, couldst thou see?

23 Which I have reserved for a time of distress, for the day of conflict and of war?

24 Where then is the way the lightning is parted? The east wind spreadeth itself abroad over the earth.

25 Who hath cloven—for the torrent—a channel? Or a way for the lightning of thunders;

26 To give rain over the no-man’s land, the desert, where no son of earth is;

27 To satisfy the wild and the wilderness, to cause to spring forth the meadow of young grass?

28 Hath the rain a father? Or who hath begotten the drops of dew?

29 Out of whose womb, came forth the ice? And, the hoar-frost of the heavens, who hath given it birth?

30 Like a stone, are the waters congealed, and, the face of the roaring deep, becometh firm!

31 Canst thou bind the fetters of the Pleiades? Or, the bands of Orion, canst thou unloose?

32 Canst thou bring forth the signs of the Zodiac each in its season? Or, the Bear and her Young, canst thou lead?

33 Knowest thou, the statutes of the heavens? Or didst thou appoint his dominion over the earth?

34 Canst thou lift up, to the thick cloud, thy voice, and the overflow of waters cover thee?

35 Canst thou send forth the lightnings, so that they go, and say to thee, Behold us?

36 Who hath put—into cloud-forms—wisdom? Or who hath given—to the meteor—understanding?

37 Who can count the thin clouds, in wisdom? And, the bottles of the heavens, who can empty out;

38 When the dust is cast into a clod, and the lumps are bound together?

39 Wilt thou hunt—for the Lioness—prey? Or, the craving of the Strong Lion, wilt thou satisfy;

40 When they settle down in dens, abide in covert, for lying in wait?

41 Who prepareth for the Raven his nourishment, —when his young ones—unto GOD—cry out, [when] they wander for lack of food?