Job 38

²Who is this that darkeneth counsel

By words without knowledge?

³Gird up now thy loins like a man;

For I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.

⁴Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?

Declare, if thou hast understanding.

⁵Who determined the measures thereof, if thou knowest?

Or who stretched the line upon it?

⁶Whereupon were the foundations thereof fastened?

Or who laid the corner-stone thereof,

⁷When the morning stars sang together,

And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸Or who shut up the sea with doors,

When it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb;

⁹When I made clouds the garment thereof,

And thick darkness a swaddling-band for it,

¹⁰And marked out for it my bound,

And set bars and doors,

¹¹And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further;

And here shall thy proud waves be stayed?

¹²Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days began,

And caused the dayspring to know its place;

¹³That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,

And the wicked be shaken out of it?

¹⁴It is changed as clay under the seal;

And all things stand forth as a garment:

¹⁵And from the wicked their light is withholden,

And the high arm is broken.

¹⁶Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?

Or hast thou walked in the recesses of the deep?

¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed unto thee?

Or hast thou seen the gates of the shadow of death?

¹⁸Hast thou comprehended the earth in its breadth?

Declare, if thou knowest it all.

¹⁹Where is the way to the dwelling of light?

And as for darkness, where is the place thereof,

²⁰That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof,

And that thou shouldest discern the paths to the house thereof?

²¹Doubtless, thou knowest, for thou wast then born,

And the number of thy days is great!

²²Hast thou entered the treasuries of the snow,

Or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,

²³Which I have reserved against the time of trouble,

Against the day of battle and war?

²⁴By what way is the light parted,

Or the east wind scattered upon the earth?

²⁵Who hath cleft a channel for the waterflood,

Or the way for the lightning of the thunder;

²⁶To cause it to rain on a land where no man is;

On the wilderness, wherein there is no man;

²⁷To satisfy the waste and desolate ground,

And to cause the tender grass to spring forth?

²⁸Hath the rain a father?

Or who hath begotten the drops of dew?

²⁹Out of whose womb came the ice?

And the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?

³⁰The waters hide themselves and become like stone,

And the face of the deep is frozen.

³¹Canst thou bind the cluster of the Pleiades,

Or loose the bands of Orion?

³²Canst thou lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season?

Or canst thou guide the Bear with her train?

³³Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens?

Canst thou establish the dominion thereof in the earth?

³⁴Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds,

That abundance of waters may cover thee?

³⁵Canst thou send forth lightnings, that they may go,

And say unto thee, Here we are?

³⁶Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts?

Or who hath given understanding to the mind?

³⁷Who can number the clouds by wisdom?

Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven,

³⁸When the dust runneth into a mass,

And the clods cleave fast together?

³⁹Canst thou hunt the prey for the lioness,

Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

⁴⁰When they couch in their dens,

And abide in the covert to lie in wait?

⁴¹Who provideth for the raven his prey,

When his young ones cry unto God,

And wander for lack of food?