Job 38
1 Then Yahweh called to Job out of a fierce storm and said,
And the Lord made answer to Job out of the storm-wind, and said,
2 “Who is this who brings darkness to plans by means of words without knowledge?
Who is this who makes the purpose of God dark by words without knowledge?
3 Now gird up your loins like a man for I will ask you questions, and you must answer me.
Get your strength together like a man of war; I will put questions to you, and you will give me the answers.
4 Where were you when I laid the earth's foundations? Tell me, if you have so much understanding.
Where were you when I put the earth on its base? Say, if you have knowledge.
5 Who determined its dimensions? Tell me, if you know. Who stretched the measuring line over it?
By whom were its measures fixed? Say, if you have wisdom; or by whom was the line stretched out over it?
6 On what were its foundations laid? Who laid its cornerstone
On what were its pillars based, or who put down its angle-stone,
7 when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
When the morning stars made songs together, and all the sons of the gods gave cries of joy?
8 Who shut up the sea with doors when it burst out, as if it had come out of the womb—
Or where were you when the sea came to birth, pushing out from its secret place;
9 when I made clouds its clothing, and thick darkness its swaddling bands?
When I made the cloud its robe, and put thick clouds as bands round it,
10 That was when I marked out for the sea my boundary, and when I placed its bars and doors,
Ordering a fixed limit for it, with locks and doors;
11 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.'
And said, So far you may come, and no farther; and here the pride of your waves will be stopped?
12 Have you given orders to the morning, or caused the dawn to know its place,
Have you, from your earliest days, given orders to the morning, or made the dawn conscious of its place;
13 so that it might take hold of the edges of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?
So that it might take a grip of the skirts of the earth, shaking all the evil-doers out of it?
14 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.
It is changed like wet earth under a stamp, and is coloured like a robe;
15 From wicked people their 'light' is taken away; their uplifted arm is broken.
And from the evil-doers their light is kept back, and the arm of pride is broken.
16 Have you gone to the sources of the waters of the sea? Have you walked in the lowest parts of the deep?
Have you come into the springs of the sea, walking in the secret places of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
Have the doors of death been open to you, or have the door-keepers of the dark ever seen you?
18 Have you understood the earth in its expanse? Tell me, if you know it all.
Have you taken note of the wide limits of the earth? Say, if you have knowledge of it all.
19 Where is the way to the resting place of light— as for darkness, where is its place?
Which is the way to the resting-place of the light, and where is the store-house of the dark;
20 Can you lead light and darkness to their places of work? Can you find the way back to their houses for them?
So that you might take it to its limit, guiding it to its house?
21 Undoubtedly you know, for you were born then; the number of your days is so large!
No doubt you have knowledge of it, for then you had come to birth, and the number of your days is great.
22 Have you entered the storehouses for the snow, or have you seen the storehouses for the hail,
Have you come into the secret place of snow, or have you seen the store-houses of the ice-drops,
23 these things that I have kept for times of trouble, for days of battle and war?
Which I have kept for the time of trouble, for the day of war and fighting?
24 What is the path to where the lightning bolts are distributed or to where the winds are scattered from the east over the earth?
Which is the way to the place where the wind is measured out, and the east wind sent out over the earth?
25 Who has created the channels for the floods of rain, or who has made a path for the thunder,
By whom has the way been cut for the flowing of the rain, and the flaming of the thunder;
26 to cause it to rain on lands where no person exists, and on the wilderness, in which there is no one,
Causing rain to come on a land where no man is living, on the waste land which has no people;
27 to satisfy the devastated and desolate places, and to make the ground sprout with grass?
To give water to the land where there is waste and destruction, and to make the dry land green with young grass?
28 Does the rain have a father, or, who fathers the drops of dew?
Has the rain a father? or who gave birth to the drops of night mist?
29 Out of whose womb did the ice come? Who bore the white frost out of the sky?
Out of whose body came the ice? and who gave birth to the cold mist of heaven?
30 The waters hide themselves and become like stone; the surface of the deep becomes frozen.
The waters are joined together, hard as a stone, and the face of the deep is covered.
31 Can you fasten chains on the Pleiades, or undo the cords of Orion?
Are the bands of the Pleiades fixed by you, or are the cords of Orion made loose?
32 Can you lead the constellations to appear at their proper times? Can you guide the Bear with its children?
Do you make Mazzaroth come out in its right time, or are the Bear and its children guided by you?
33 Do you know the regulations of the sky? Could you set in place the sky's rule over the earth?
Have you knowledge of the laws of the heavens? did you give them rule over the earth?
34 Can you raise your voice up to the clouds, so that an abundance of rainwater may cover you?
Is your voice sent up to the cloud, so that you may be covered by the weight of waters?
35 Can you send out bolts of lightning that they may go out, that they say to you, 'Here we are'?
Do you send out the thunder-flames, so that they may go, and say to you, Here we are?
36 Who has put wisdom in the clouds or has given understanding to the mists?
Who has put wisdom in the high clouds, or given knowledge to the lights of the north?
37 Who can number the clouds by his skill? Who can pour out the water skins of the sky
By whose wisdom are the clouds numbered, or the water-skins of the heavens turned to the earth,
38 when the dust runs into a hard mass and the clods of earth clump tightly together?
When the earth becomes hard as metal, and is joined together in masses?
39 Can you hunt down a victim for a lioness or satisfy the appetite of her young lion cubs
Do you go after food for the she-lion, or get meat so that the young lions may have enough,
40 when they are crouching in their dens and sheltering in hiding to lie in wait?
When they are stretched out in their holes, and are waiting in the brushwood?
41 Who provides victims for the ravens when their young ones cry out to God and stagger about for lack of food?
Who gives in the evening the meat he is searching for, when his young ones are crying to God; when the young lions with loud noise go wandering after their food?
