Job 38:1–18

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.