Job 38–39

The Answers Job

38Then out of the storm the Lord spoke to Job.

²Who are you to question my wisdom

with your ignorant, empty words?

³Now stand up straight

and answer the questions I ask you.

⁴Were you there when I made the world?

If you know so much, tell me about it.

⁵Who decided how large it would be?

Who stretched the measuring line over it?

Do you know all the answers?

⁶What holds up the pillars that support the earth?

Who laid the cornerstone of the world?

⁷In the dawn of that day the stars sang together,

and the heavenly beings^q shouted for joy.

^8*Who closed the gates to hold back the sea^r

when it burst from the womb of the earth?

^9*It was I who covered the sea with clouds

and wrapped it in darkness.

^10*I marked a boundary for the sea

and kept it behind bolted gates.

^11*I told it, “So far and no farther!

Here your powerful waves must stop.”

¹²Job, have you ever in all your life

commanded a day to dawn?

¹³Have you ordered the dawn to seize the earth

and shake the wicked from their hiding places?

¹⁴Daylight makes the hills and valleys stand out

like the folds of a garment,

clear as the imprint of a seal on clay.

¹⁵The light of day is too bright for the wicked

and restrains them from deeds of violence.

¹⁶Have you been to the springs in the depths of the sea?

Have you walked on the floor of the ocean?

¹⁷Has anyone ever shown you the gates

that guard the dark world of the dead?

¹⁸Have you any idea how big the world is?

Answer me if you know.

¹⁹Do you know where the light comes from

or what the source of darkness is?

²⁰Can you show them how far to go,

or send them back again?

²¹I am sure you can, because you’re so old

and were there when the world was made!

²²Have you ever visited the storerooms,

where I keep the snow and the hail?

²³I keep them ready for times of trouble,

for days of battle and war.

²⁴Have you been to the place where the sun comes up,

or the place from which the east wind blows?

²⁵Who dug a channel for the pouring rain

and cleared the way for the thunderstorm?

²⁶Who makes rain fall where no one lives?

²⁷Who waters the dry and thirsty land,

so that grass springs up?

²⁸Does either the rain or the dew have a father?

²⁹Who is the mother of the ice and the frost,

³⁰which turn the waters to stone

and freeze the face of the sea?

^31*Can you tie the Pleiades together

or loosen the bonds that hold Orion?

³²Can you guide the stars season by season

and direct the Great and the Little Bear?

³³Do you know the laws that govern the skies,

and can you make them apply to the earth?

³⁴Can you shout orders to the clouds

and make them drench you with rain?

³⁵And if you command the lightning to flash,

will it come to you and say, “At your service”?

³⁶Who tells the ibis^s when the Nile will flood,

or who tells the cock that rain will fall?^t

³⁷Who is wise enough to count the clouds

and tilt them over to pour out the rain,

³⁸rain that hardens the dust into lumps?

³⁹Do you find food for lions to eat,

and satisfy hungry young lions

⁴⁰when they hide in their caves,

or lie in wait in their dens?

⁴¹Who is it that feeds the ravens when they wander about hungry, when their young cry to me for food?

39Do you know when mountain goats are born?

Have you watched wild deer give birth?

²Do you know how long they carry their young?

Do you know the time for their birth?

³Do you know when they will crouch down

and bring their young into the world?

⁴In the wilds their young grow strong;

they go away and don’t come back.

⁵Who gave the wild donkeys their freedom?

Who turned them loose

and let them roam?

⁶I gave them the desert to be their home, and let them live on the salt plains.

⁷They keep far away from the noisy cities,

and no one can tame them and make them work.

⁸The mountains are the pastures where they feed,

where they search for anything green to eat.

⁹Will a wild ox work for you?

Is he willing to spend the night in your stable?

¹⁰Can you hold one with a rope and make him plough?

Or make him pull a harrow in your fields?

¹¹Can you rely on his great strength

and expect him to do your heavy work?

¹²Do you expect him to bring in your harvest

and gather the grain from your threshing place?

¹³How fast the wings of an ostrich beat!

But no ostrich can fly like a stork.^u

¹⁴The ostrich leaves her eggs on the ground

for the heat in the soil to warm them.

¹⁵She is unaware that a foot may crush them

or a wild animal break them.

¹⁶She acts as if the eggs were not hers,

and is unconcerned that her efforts were wasted.

¹⁷It was I who made her foolish

and did not give her wisdom.

¹⁸But when she begins to run,^v

she can laugh at any horse and rider.

¹⁹Was it you, Job, who made horses so strong

and gave them their flowing manes?

²⁰Did you make them leap like locusts

and frighten people with their snorting?

²¹They eagerly paw the ground in the valley;

they rush into battle with all their strength.

²²They do not know the meaning of fear,

and no sword can turn them back.

²³The weapons which their riders carry

rattle and flash in the sun.

²⁴Trembling with excitement, the horses race ahead;

when the trumpet blows, they can’t stand still.

²⁵At each blast of the trumpet they snort;

they can smell a battle before they get near,

and they hear the officers shouting commands.

²⁶Does a hawk learn from you how to fly

when it spreads its wings towards the south?

²⁷Does an eagle wait for your command

to build its nest high in the mountains?

²⁸It makes its home on the highest rocks

and makes the sharp peaks its fortress.

²⁹From there it watches near and far

for something to kill and eat.

^30*Around dead bodies the eagles gather,

and the young eagles drink the blood.