Job 38

The Lord Answers Job

¹Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

²“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

³Dress for action like a man;

I will question you, and you make it known to me.

⁴“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

Tell me, if you have understanding.

⁵Who determined its measurements—surely you know!

Or who stretched the line upon it?

⁶On what were its bases sunk,

or who laid its cornerstone,

⁷when the morning stars sang together

and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸“Or who shut in the sea with doors

when it burst out from the womb,

⁹when I made clouds its garment

and thick darkness its swaddling band,

¹⁰and prescribed limits for it

and set bars and doors,

¹¹and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,

and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

¹²“Have you commanded the morning since your days began,

and caused the dawn to know its place,

¹³that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,

and the wicked be shaken out of it?

¹⁴It is changed like clay under the seal,

and its features stand out like a garment.

¹⁵From the wicked their light is withheld,

and their uplifted arm is broken.

¹⁶“Have you entered into the springs of the sea,

or walked in the recesses of the deep?

¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed to you,

or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

¹⁸Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?

Declare, if you know all this.

¹⁹“Where is the way to the dwelling of light,

and where is the place of darkness,

²⁰that you may take it to its territory

and that you may discern the paths to its home?

²¹You know, for you were born then,

and the number of your days is great!

²²“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,

or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

²³which I have reserved for the time of trouble,

for the day of battle and war?

²⁴What is the way to the place where the light is distributed,

or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?

²⁵“Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain

and a way for the thunderbolt,

²⁶to bring rain on a land where no man is,

on the desert in which there is no man,

²⁷to satisfy the waste and desolate land,

and to make the ground sprout with grass?

²⁸“Has the rain a father,

or who has begotten the drops of dew?

²⁹From whose womb did the ice come forth,

and who has given birth to the frost of heaven?

³⁰The waters become hard like stone,

and the face of the deep is frozen.

³¹“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades

or loose the cords of Orion?

³²Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season,

or can you guide the Bear with its children?

³³Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?

Can you establish their rule on the earth?

³⁴“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,

that a flood of waters may cover you?

³⁵Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go

and say to you, ‘Here we are’?

³⁶Who has put wisdom in the inward parts

or given understanding to the mind?

³⁷Who can number the clouds by wisdom?

Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,

³⁸when the dust runs into a mass

and the clods stick fast together?

³⁹“Can you hunt the prey for the lion,

or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

⁴⁰when they crouch in their dens

or lie in wait in their thicket?

⁴¹Who provides for the raven its prey,

when its young ones cry to God for help,

and wander about for lack of food?