Job Chapter 38 Back Next{38:1} Then Yahweh 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} Whereupon were its foundations fastened? 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 forth from 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, 'Here you may come, but no further. Here your proud waves shall be stayed?'
{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 stands forth 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 breadth? 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 treasuries of the snow, or have you seen the treasures 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 no man is; on the wilderness, in which there is no man;
{38:27} to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender
grass to spring forth?
{38:28} Does the rain have a
father? Or who fathers the drops of
dew?
{38:29} Out of whose womb came the ice? The gray
frost of the sky, who has given birth to it?
{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 forth the
constellations 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 forth 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 number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the
bottles 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?
Job Chapter 38 Back Next