Job 38
1 Then Yahweh spoke to Job from inside a great windstorm. He said to him,
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind,
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 who questions my wisdom by talking so ignorantly?
3 I want to ask you [some] questions, so, just like men prepare themselves for a difficult task [MET], prepare to answer my questions.
Prepare yourself, be strong, for I am going to question you, and you must answer 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 were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have such knowledge!
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 decided its dimensions? Don't you know? Who stretched out a measuring line?
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?]
What do its foundations rest upon? Who laid its cornerstone,
when the stars of the morning sang together and all the angels shouted for joy.
8 “When the seas poured forth from inside the earth, who prevented the water from flooding over the land?
Who laid down the boundaries of the sea when it was born?
9 It was I, [not you, ] who caused clouds to come over the seas and caused it to become very dark [under those clouds].
Who clothed it with clouds, and wrapped it in a blanket of deep darkness?
10 I set limits for the seas, and I put barriers [so that the water would not come over the land].
I set its limits, marking its borders.
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!’
I said, ‘You may come here, but no farther. Here is where your proud waves stop.’
12 “Job, have you [ever] commanded the morning [to begin]? Have you [ever] told the dawn to start a new day?
During your lifetime, have you ever ordered the morning to begin?
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?
Have you ever told the dawn where to appear that it might take hold of the corners of the earth and shake the wicked out?
14 When it becomes light after the dawn, the hills and the valleys become clear like the folds in a cloth.
The earth is changed like clay under a seal; its features stand out like a crumpled 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.
The ‘light’ of the wicked is taken away from them; their acts of violence are stopped.
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?
Have you entered the sources of the sea? Have you explored their hidden depths?
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 you been shown where the gates of death are? Have you seen the gates of utter darkness?
18 Do you know how big the earth is? Tell me, if you know all these things!
Do you know how far the earth extends? Tell me if you know all this!
19 “Where is the road to the place where light comes from? And [can you tell me] where darkness lives?
In which direction does light live? Where does darkness dwell?
20 Can take me to its home? Do you know where the road is that goes there?
Can you take them home? Do you know the way to where they live?
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!
Of course you know, because you were already born then! You've lived so long!
22 “Have you entered the place where I store the snow and the place where I keep the hail?
Have you been to where the snow is kept? Have you seen where the hail is held?
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].
I have stored them up for the time of trouble, for the day of war and battle.
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?
Do you know the way to where light comes from, or to where the east wind blows over 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 cuts a channel for the rain to flow? Who creates a path for the thunderbolt?
26 Who causes rain to fall in the desert, in places where no one lives?
Who brings rain to an uninhabited land, to a desert where nobody lives,
27 Who sends the rain that gives moisture/water to areas where nothing has grown, with the result that grass begins to grow again?
to water a parched wasteland to make the green grass grow?
28 Does the rain have a father? Does the dew [also] have a father?
Does the rain have a father? Who was the father of the dewdrops?
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?
Who was the mother of ice? Does the frost of the air have a mother?
30 [In the winter, ] the water [freezes and] becomes hard, like a rock, and the surface of lakes becomes frozen.
Water turns into rock-hard ice; its surface freezes solid.
31 “[Job], can you fasten the chains that hold the stars together in clusters/groups in the sky?
Can you tie together the stars of the Pleiades? Can you loosen the belt of the Orion constellation?
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?
Can you guide the stars of Mazzaroth at the right time? Can you direct the Great Bear constellation and its other stars?
33 Do you know the laws that the stars must obey? Can you cause those same laws to rule [everything here] on the earth?
Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you apply them to the earth?
34 “Can you shout to the clouds and cause rain to pour down on you?
Can you shout to the clouds and command them to pour rain down on you?
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?’
Can you send out bolts of lightning and direct them, so that they can answer you saying, ‘Here we are’?
36 Who enables the clouds to know when they should cause rain to fall?
Who has placed wisdom inside people? Who has given understanding to the mind?
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 is clever enough to count the clouds? Who can turn heaven's water jars on their sides
38 with the result that the dry ground becomes hard as the dry (clods/lumps of soil) [become wet and] stick together?
when the dust has baked into a solid mass?
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?
Can you hunt prey for the lion? Can you feed the lion cubs
as they crouch down in their dens and lie in wait in the bushes?
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 provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God, weak from starvation?
