Job 38
1 Then Yahweh spoke to Job from inside a great windstorm. He said to him,
Then Yahweh called to Job out of a fierce storm 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 who brings darkness to plans by means of words without knowledge?
3 I want to ask you [some] questions, so, just like men prepare themselves for a difficult task [MET], prepare to answer my questions.
Now gird up your loins like a man for I will ask you questions, 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 earth's foundations? Tell me, if you have so much 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 determined its dimensions? Tell me, if you know. Who stretched the measuring line over 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?]
On what were its foundations laid? Who laid its cornerstone
when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
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 burst out, as if it had come 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 clouds its clothing, and thick darkness its swaddling bands?
10 I set limits for the seas, and I put barriers [so that the water would not come over the land].
That was when I marked out for the sea my boundary, and when I placed its 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 when I said to it, 'You may come this far, but no farther; here is where I will put a boundary to the pride of your waves.'
12 “Job, have you [ever] commanded the morning [to begin]? Have you [ever] told the dawn to start a new day?
Have you given orders to the morning, or caused the dawn to know 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?
so that it might take hold of the edges of the earth and shake the wicked 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 earth is changed in appearance like clay changes under a seal; all things on it stand out clearly like the folds of a piece of clothing.
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 wicked people their 'light' is taken away; their uplifted arm is 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?
Have you gone to the sources of the waters of the sea? Have you 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 revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
18 Do you know how big the earth is? Tell me, if you know all these things!
Have you understood the earth in its expanse? Tell me, if you know it all.
19 “Where is the road to the place where light comes from? And [can you tell me] where darkness lives?
Where is the way to the resting place of light— as for darkness, where is its place?
20 Can take me to its home? Do you know where the road is that goes there?
Can you lead light and darkness to their places of work? Can you find the way back to their houses for them?
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!
Undoubtedly you know, for you were born then; the number of your days is so large!
22 “Have you entered the place where I store the snow and the place where I keep the hail?
Have you entered the storehouses for the snow, or have you seen the storehouses for 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].
these things that I have kept for times of trouble, for days 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?
What is the path to where the lightning bolts are distributed or to where the winds are scattered from the east 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 has created the channels for the floods of rain, or who has made a path for the thunder,
26 Who causes rain to fall in the desert, in places where no one lives?
to cause it to rain on lands where no person exists, and on the wilderness, in which there is no one,
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 satisfy the devastated and desolate places, and to make the ground sprout with grass?
28 Does the rain have a father? Does the dew [also] have a father?
Does the rain have a father, or, who fathers 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 did the ice come? Who bore the white frost out of the sky?
30 [In the winter, ] the water [freezes and] becomes hard, like a rock, and the surface of lakes becomes frozen.
The waters hide themselves and become like stone; the surface of the deep becomes frozen.
31 “[Job], can you fasten the chains that hold the stars together in clusters/groups in the sky?
Can you fasten chains on the Pleiades, or undo the cords of Orion?
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 lead the constellations to appear at their proper times? Can you guide the Bear with its children?
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 regulations of the sky? Could you set in place the sky's rule over the earth?
34 “Can you shout to the clouds and cause rain to pour down on you?
Can you raise your voice up to the clouds, so that an abundance of rainwater may cover 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 that they may go out, that they say to you, 'Here we are'?
36 Who enables the clouds to know when they should cause rain to fall?
Who has put wisdom in the clouds or has given understanding to the mists?
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 number the clouds by his skill? Who can pour out the water skins of the sky
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 runs into a hard mass and the clods of earth clump tightly 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?
Can you hunt down a victim for a lioness or satisfy the appetite of her young lion cubs
when they are crouching in their dens and sheltering in hiding to lie in wait?
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 victims for the ravens when their young ones cry out to God and stagger about for lack of food?
