Job 38

1Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind:

2“Who is this who makes counsel dark with words devoid of knowledge?

3Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you will inform me.

4Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell it to me, if you have insight.

5Who fixed its dimensions—since you know so well! Or who ran a measuring line over it?

6On what were its footings settled, or who set its cornerstone in place,

7as the morning stars sang out together and all the sons of God raised a joyful shout?

8Who closed in the sea behind doors when it gushed out, coming forth from the womb,

9when I dressed it in clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness as its swaddling cloth,

10when I marked out my boundary for it and put its bars and doors in place,

11and said, ‘Up to this point you may come, but go no further; here your proud waves will be held back’?

12Have you ever, in all your days, given the morning its orders, or taught the dawn where it belongs,

13so that it could seize the earth by its hems and the wicked would be shaken loose from it?

14The earth changes shape like clay stamped by a seal, and its features stand out like those of a garment.

15Their light is held back from the wicked, and the arm they raised high is shattered.

16Have you gone as far as the sources of the sea, or walked through the farthest reaches of the deep?

17Have death’s gates been opened to your view, or have you looked on the gates of deepest shadow?

18Have you taken in the full breadth of the earth? Speak, if you know it all.

19Which road leads to where light dwells? And darkness—where does it have its place,

20so that you could lead it back to its region and recognize the roads to its house?

21You must know, since you were born back then, and your days are so many in number!

22Have you gone into the storerooms of the snow, or looked at the storerooms of the hail,

23which I keep in reserve for a time of distress, for a day of combat and war?

24Which road leads to where light is parceled out, or where the east wind spreads across the earth?

25Who carved out a course for the flooding rain, and a road for the thunderclap,

26to send rain on land where no one is, on a desert with no human being in it,

27to give the desolate wasteland its fill and make the ground sprout tender grass?

28Is there a father for the rain? Or who became father to the dewdrops?

29Out of whose womb did the ice come? And the frost of the sky—who gave birth to it,

30when water hides itself as under stone and the face of the deep is locked tight?

31Can you fasten the bonds of the Pleiades, or untie the ropes that hold Orion?

32Can you bring out the constellations at their proper time, or steer the Bear along with her young?

33Do you understand the statutes that govern the heavens? Can you put their authority in force on the earth?

34Can you lift your voice to the clouds so that an abundance of water covers you?

35Can you dispatch the lightning bolts so that they go off and tell you, ‘We are here’?

36Who placed wisdom in the inner self, or gave the mind its understanding?

37Who has wisdom enough to tally the clouds? Who can tilt the heavens’ water jars on their sides,

38when the dust hardens into a solid lump and the clods cling together?

39Do you track down prey for the lioness, or fill the hunger of the young lions,

40when they lie low in their lairs or wait in ambush in the brush?

41Who supplies the raven with its prey when its chicks call to God for help and stray about with nothing to eat?