Job 38

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

²Who 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.

⁴Where 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 ?

⁸Or 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 ?

¹²Have 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 .

¹⁶Have 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.

¹⁹Where 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 !

²²Have 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 ?

²⁵Who 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 ?

²⁸Has 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 .

³¹Can 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 ?

³⁴Can 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 ?

³⁹Can 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 ?