Job 38 ⓘ

38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind,

38:2 “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

38:3 Brace yourself like a man, for I will question you, then you answer me!

38:4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding.

38:5 Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it?

38:6 What were its foundations fastened on? Or who laid its cornerstone,

38:7 when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

38:8 “Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke out of the womb,

38:9 when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness,

38:10 marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors,

38:11 and said, ‘You may come here, but no further. Your proud waves shall be stopped here’?

38:12 “Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place,

38:13 that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it?

38:14 It is changed as clay under the seal, and presented as a garment.

38:15 From the wicked, their light is withheld. The high arm is broken.

38:16 “Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?

38:17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

38:18 Have you comprehended the earth in its width? Declare, if you know it all.

38:19 “What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place,

38:20 that you should take it to its bound, that you should discern the paths to its house?

38:21 Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!

38:22 Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

38:23 which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?

38:24 By what way is the lightning distributed, or the east wind scattered on the earth?

38:25 Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm,

38:26 to cause it to rain on a land where there is no man, on the wilderness, in which there is no man,

38:27 to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to grow?

38:28 Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew?

38:29 Whose womb did the ice come out of? Who has given birth to the grey frost of the sky?

38:30 The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen.

38:31 “Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?

38:32 Can you lead the constellations out in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs?

38:33 Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish its dominion over the earth?

38:34 “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover you?

38:35 Can you send out lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?

38:36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind?

38:37 Who can count the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the containers of the sky,

38:38 when the dust runs into a mass, and the clods of earth stick together?

38:39 “Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

38:40 when they crouch in their dens, and lie in wait in the thicket?

38:41 Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?