Job 38–39

38TH CHAPTER

The Lord Speaks:

Who Is Able to Challenge Me?

¹Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm. 

²“Who is this that belittles my advice 

with words that do not show any knowledge ⸤about it⸥? 

³Brace yourself like a man! 

I will ask you, and you will teach me. 

The Lord Speaks about Creation

⁴“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? 

Tell me if you have ⸤such⸥ insight. 

⁵Who determined its dimensions? 

Certainly, you know! 

Who stretched a measuring line over it? 

⁶On what were its footings sunk? 

Who laid its cornerstone 

⁷when the morning stars sang together 

and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 

⁸“Who shut the sea behind gates 

when it burst through and came out of the womb, 

⁹when I clothed it with clouds 

and wrapped it up in dark clouds, 

¹⁰when I set a limit for it 

and put up bars and gates, 

¹¹when I said, ‘You may come this far but no farther. 

Here your proud waves will stop’? 

¹²“Have you ever given orders to the morning 

or assigned a place for the dawn 

¹³so that it could grab the earth by its edges 

and shake wicked people out of it? 

¹⁴The earth changes like clay stamped by a seal, 

and ⸤parts of it⸥ stand out like ⸤folds in⸥ clothing. 

¹⁵Wicked people are deprived of their light, 

and an arm raised ⸤in victory⸥ is broken. 

¹⁶Have you gone to the springs in the sea 

or walked through the valleys of the ocean depths? 

¹⁷Have the gateways to death been revealed to you, 

or have you seen the gateways to total darkness? 

¹⁸Have you ⸤even⸥ considered how wide the earth is? 

Tell me, if you know all of this! 

¹⁹“What is the way to the place where light lives? 

Where is the home of darkness 

²⁰so that you may lead it to its territory, 

so that you may know the path to its home? 

²¹You must know because you were born then 

and have lived such a long time! 

²²Have you been to the warehouses where snow is stored 

or seen the warehouses for hail 

²³that I have stored up for the time of trouble, 

for the day of battle and war? 

²⁴Which is the way to the place where light is scattered 

and the east wind is spread across the earth? 

²⁵“Who made a channel for the flooding rains 

and a path for the thunderstorms 

²⁶to bring rain on a land where no one lives, 

on a desert where there are no humans, 

²⁷to saturate the desolate wasteland 

in order to make it sprout with grass? 

²⁸Does the rain have a father? 

Who gave birth to the dewdrops? 

²⁹From whose womb came the ice, 

and who has given birth to the frost in the air? 

³⁰The water hardens like a stone, 

and the surface of the ocean freezes over. 

³¹“Can you connect the chains of the ⸤constellation⸥ Pleiades 

or untie the ropes of Orion? 

³²Can you bring out the constellations at the right time 

or guide Ursa Major with its cubs? 

³³Do you know the laws of the sky 

or make them rule the earth? 

³⁴Can you call to the clouds 

and have a flood of water cover you? 

³⁵Can you send lightning flashes so that they may go and say to you, 

‘Here we are’? 

³⁶Who put wisdom in the heart 

or gave understanding to the mind? 

³⁷Who is wise enough to count the clouds 

or pour out the water jars of heaven 

³⁸when the dirt hardens into clumps 

and the soil clings together? 

The Lioness

³⁹“Can you hunt prey for the lioness 

and satisfy the hunger of her cubs 

⁴⁰as they crouch in their dens 

and lie ready to ambush from their lairs? 

The Crow

⁴¹“Who provides food for the crow 

when its young ones cry to God 

and wander around in need of food? 

39TH CHAPTER

The Lord Continues: the Mountain Goats

¹“Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth? 

Do you watch the does when they are in labor? 

²Can you count the months they are pregnant 

or know the time when they’ll give birth? 

³They kneel down to give birth and deliver their young. 

Then the pain of giving birth is over. 

⁴Their young are healthy and grow up in the wild. 

They leave and don’t come back. 

The Wild Donkey

⁵“Who lets the wild donkey go free? 

Who unties the ropes of the wild donkey? 

⁶I gave it the desert to live in 

and the salt flats as its dwelling place. 

⁷It laughs at the noise of the city 

and doesn’t ⸤even⸥ listen to the shouting of its master. 

⁸It explores the mountains for its pasture 

and looks for anything green. 

The Wild Ox

⁹“Will the wild ox agree to serve you, 

or will it stay at night beside your feeding trough? 

¹⁰Can you guide a wild ox in a furrow, 

or will it plow the valleys behind you? 

¹¹Can you trust it just because it’s so strong 

or leave your labor to it? 

¹²Can you rely on it to bring your grain back 

and take it to your threshing floor?^a

The Ostrich

¹³“Does the ostrich flap its wings in joy, 

or do its wings lack feathers?^b

¹⁴It lays its eggs on the ground 

and warms them in the dust. 

¹⁵It forgets that a foot may crush them 

or a wild animal may trample them. 

¹⁶It acts harshly toward its young as if they weren’t its own. 

It is not afraid that its work is for nothing 

¹⁷because God has deprived it of wisdom 

and did not give it any understanding. 

¹⁸It laughs at the horse and its rider when it gets up to flee. 

The Horse

¹⁹“Can you give strength to a horse 

or dress its neck with a flowing mane? 

²⁰Can you make it leap like a locust, 

when its snorting causes terror? 

²¹It paws in strength and finds joy in its power. 

It charges into battle. 

²²It laughs at fear, 

is afraid of nothing, 

and doesn’t back away from swords. 

²³A quiver of arrows rattles on it 

along with the flashing spear and javelin. 

²⁴Anxious and excited, the horse eats up the ground 

and doesn’t trust the sound of the ram’s horn. 

²⁵As often as the horn sounds, the horse says, ‘Aha!’ 

and it smells the battle far away— 

the thundering ⸤orders⸥ of the captains and the battle cries. 

The Birds of Prey

²⁶“Does your understanding make a bird of prey fly 

and spread its wings toward the south? 

²⁷Is it by your order that the eagle flies high 

and makes its nest on the heights? 

²⁸It perches for the night on a cliff. 

Its fortress is on a jagged peak. 

²⁹From there it seeks food, 

and its eyes see it from far away. 

³⁰Its young ones feed on blood. 

It is found wherever there are dead bodies.”