Job 38
1 Then Yahweh spoke to Job from inside a great windstorm. He said to him,
Then the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind, and said:
2 “(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!
Who is this that wrappeth up sentences in unskillful words?
3 I want to ask you [some] questions, so, just like men prepare themselves for a difficult task [MET], prepare to answer my questions.
Gird up thy loins like a man: I will ask thee, and answer thou me.
4 (“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].
Where wast thou when I laid up the foundations of the earth? tell me if thou hast understanding.
5 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!
Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
6 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?]
Upon what are its bases grounded? or who laid the corner stone thereof,
When the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody?
8 “When the seas poured forth from inside the earth, who prevented the water from flooding over the land?
Who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth as issuing out of the womb:
9 It was I, [not you, ] who caused clouds to come over the seas and caused it to become very dark [under those clouds].
When I made a cloud the garment thereof, and wrapped it in a mist as in swaddling bands?
10 I set limits for the seas, and I put barriers [so that the water would not come over the land].
I set my bounds around it, and made it bars and doors:
11 [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!’
And I said: Hitherto thou shalt come, and shalt go no further, and here thou shalt break thy swelling waves.
12 “Job, have you [ever] commanded the morning [to begin]? Have you [ever] told the dawn to start a new day?
Didst thou since thy birth command the morning, and shew the dawning of the day its place?
13 Have you [ever] told the dawn to spread out over the whole earth, with the result that wicked people run away from the light?
And didst thou hold the extremities of the earth shaking them, and hast thou shaken the ungodly out of it?
14 When it becomes light after the dawn, the hills and the valleys become clear like the folds in a cloth.
The seal shall be restored as clay, and shall stand as a garment:
15 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.
From the wicked their light shall be taken away, and the high arm shall be broken.
16 “[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?
Hast thou entered into the depths of the sea, and walked in the lowest parts of the deep?
17 Has someone shown you the gates to the place where dead people are, the gates to the place where it is very dark?
Have the gates of death been opened to thee, and hast thou seen the darksome doors?
18 Do you know how big the earth is? Tell me, if you know all these things!
Hast thou considered the breadth of the earth? tell me, if thou knowest all things?
19 “Where is the road to the place where light comes from? And [can you tell me] where darkness lives?
Where is the way where light dwelleth, and where is the place of darkness:
20 Can take me to its home? Do you know where the road is that goes there?
That thou mayst bring every thing to its own bounds, and understand the paths of the house thereof.
21 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!
Didst thou know then that thou shouldst be born? and didst thou know the number of thy days?
22 “Have you entered the place where I store the snow and the place where I keep the hail?
Hast thou entered into the storehouses of the snow, or has thou beheld the treasures of the hail:
23 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].
Which I have prepared for the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war?
24 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?
By what way is the light spread, and heat divided upon the earth?
25 Who created the channels in which the rain comes down from the sky? Who makes the roads for the thunder/lightning?
Who gave a course to violent showers, or a way for noisy thunder:
26 Who causes rain to fall in the desert, in places where no one lives?
That it should rain on the earth without man in the wilderness, where no mortal dwelleth:
27 Who sends the rain that gives moisture/water to areas where nothing has grown, with the result that grass begins to grow again?
That it should fill the desert and desolate land, and should bring forth green grass?
28 Does the rain have a father? Does the dew [also] have a father?
Who is the father of rain? or who begot the drops of dew?
29 And from whose womb does ice come [in the (winter/cold season)]? Who gives birth to the frost that comes down from the sky?
Out of whose womb came the ice; and the frost from heaven who hath gendered it?
30 [In the winter, ] the water [freezes and] becomes hard, like a rock, and the surface of lakes becomes frozen.
The waters are hardened like a stone, and the surface of the deep is congealed.
31 “[Job], can you fasten the chains that hold the stars together in clusters/groups in the sky?
Shalt thou be able to join together the shining stars the Pleiades, or canst thou stop the turning about of Arcturus?
32 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?
Canst thou bring forth the day star in its time, and make the evening star to rise upon the children of the earth?
33 Do you know the laws that the stars must obey? Can you cause those same laws to rule [everything here] on the earth?
Dost thou know the order of heaven, and canst thou set down the reason thereof on the earth?
34 “Can you shout to the clouds and cause rain to pour down on you?
Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that an abundance of waters may cover thee?
35 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?’
Canst thou send lightnings, and will they go, and will they return and say to thee: Here we are?
36 Who enables the clouds to know when they should cause rain to fall?
Who hath put wisdom in the heart of man? or who gave the cock understanding?
37 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],
Who can declare the order of the heavens, or who can make the harmony of heaven to sleep?
38 with the result that the dry ground becomes hard as the dry (clods/lumps of soil) [become wet and] stick together?
When was the dust poured on the earth, and the clods fastened together?
39 “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?
Wilt thou take the prey for the lioness, and satisfy the appetite of her whelps,
When they couch in the dens and lie in wait in holes?
41 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]?”
Who provideth food for the raven, when her young ones cry to God, wandering about, because they have no meat?
