Job 38
1Then Yahweh called to Job out of a fierce storm and said, 1
2“Who is this who brings darkness to plans 1 by means of words without knowledge? 1
3Now gird up your loins like a man 1 for I will ask you questions, and you must answer me. 1
4Where were you when I laid the earth's foundations? 1 Tell me, if you have so much understanding. 1
5Who determined its dimensions? Tell me, if you know. 1 Who stretched the measuring line over it? 1
6On what were its foundations laid? 1 Who laid its cornerstone 1
7when the morning stars sang together 1 and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 1
8Who shut up the sea with doors 1 when it burst out, as if it had come out of the womb— 1
9when I made clouds its clothing, 1 and thick darkness its swaddling bands? 1
10That was when I marked out for the sea my boundary, 1 and when I placed its bars and doors, 1
11and when I said to it, 'You may come this far, but no farther; 1 here is where I will put a boundary to the pride of your waves.' 1
12Have you given orders to the morning, 1 or caused the dawn to know its place, 1
13so that it might take hold of the edges of the earth 1 and shake the wicked out of it? 1
14The earth is changed in appearance like clay changes under a seal; 1 all things on it stand out clearly like the folds of a piece of clothing. 1
15From wicked people their 'light' is taken away; 1 their uplifted arm is broken. 1
16Have you gone to the sources of the waters of the sea? 1 Have you walked in the lowest parts of the deep? 1
17Have the gates of death been revealed to you? 1 Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? 1
18Have you understood the earth in its expanse? 1 Tell me, if you know it all. 1
19Where is the way to the resting place of light— 1 as for darkness, where is its place? 1
20Can you lead light and darkness to their places of work? 1 Can you find the way back to their houses for them? 1
21Undoubtedly you know, for you were born then; 1 the number of your days is so large! 1
22Have you entered the storehouses for the snow, 1 or have you seen the storehouses for the hail, 1
23these things that I have kept for times of trouble, 1 for days of battle and war? 1
24What is the path to where the lightning bolts are distributed 1 or to where the winds are scattered from the east over the earth? 1
25Who has created the channels for the floods of rain, 1 or who has made a path for the thunder, 1
26to cause it to rain on lands where no person exists, 1 and on the wilderness, in which there is no one, 1
27to satisfy the devastated and desolate places, 1 and to make the ground sprout with grass? 1
28Does the rain have a father, 1 or, who fathers the drops of dew? 1
29Out of whose womb did the ice come? 1 Who bore the white frost out of the sky? 1
30The waters hide themselves and become like stone; 1 the surface of the deep becomes frozen. 1
31Can you fasten chains on the Pleiades, 1 or undo the cords of Orion? 1
32Can you lead the constellations to appear at their proper times? 1 Can you guide the Bear with its children? 1
33Do you know the regulations of the sky? 1 Could you set in place the sky's rule over the earth? 1
34Can you raise your voice up to the clouds, 1 so that an abundance of rainwater may cover you? 1
35Can you send out bolts of lightning that they may go out, 1 that they say to you, 'Here we are'? 1
36Who has put wisdom in the clouds 1 or has given understanding to the mists? 1
37Who can number the clouds by his skill? 1 Who can pour out the water skins of the sky 1
38when the dust runs into a hard mass 1 and the clods of earth clump tightly together? 1
39Can you hunt down a victim for a lioness 1 or satisfy the appetite of her young lion cubs 1
40when they are crouching in their dens 1 and sheltering in hiding to lie in wait? 1
41Who provides victims for the ravens 1 when their young ones cry out to God 1 and stagger about for lack of food?