Job 38–40

The Lord Speaks

38Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind. ^pHe said:

²Who is this who obscures My counsel

with ignorant words? ^q

³Get ready to answer Me like a man;

when I question ^ryou, you will inform Me.

⁴Where were you when I established ^sthe earth?

Tell Me, if you have ^tunderstanding.

⁵Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know!

Who stretched a measuring line across it?

⁶What supports its foundations?

Or who laid its cornerstone

⁷while the morning stars sang together

and all the sons of God ^ushouted for joy?

⁸Who enclosed the sea behind doors

when it burst from the womb,

⁹when I made the clouds its garment

and thick darkness its blanket, ^vw

¹⁰when I determined its boundaries ^x

and put its bars and doors in place,

¹¹when I declared: “You may come this far, but no farther;

your proud waves stop here”?

¹²Have you ever in your life commanded the morning

or assigned the dawn its place,

¹³so it may seize the edges of the earth

and shake the wicked out of it?

¹⁴The earth is changed as clay is by a seal;

its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.

¹⁵Light ^yis withheld from the wicked,

and the arm raised in violence is broken.

¹⁶Have you traveled to the sources of the sea

or walked in the depths of the oceans?

¹⁷Have the gates ^zof death been revealed to you?

Have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

¹⁸Have you comprehended the extent of the earth?

Tell Me, if you know all this.

¹⁹Where is the road to the home of light?

Do you know where darkness lives,

²⁰so you can lead it back to its border?

Are you familiar with the paths to its home?

²¹Don’t you know? You were already born; ^a

you have lived so long! ^b

²²Have you entered the place where the snow is stored?

Or have you seen the storehouses of hail, ^c

²³which I hold in reserve for times of trouble,

for the day of warfare and battle? ^d

²⁴What road leads to the place where light is dispersed? ^e

Where is the source of the east wind that spreads across the earth?

²⁵Who cuts a channel for the flooding rain

or clears the way for lightning,

²⁶to bring rain on an uninhabited land,

on a desert with no human life, ^f

²⁷to satisfy the parched wasteland

and cause the grass to sprout? ^g

²⁸Does the rain have a father?

Who fathered the drops of dew? ^h

²⁹Whose womb did the ice come from?

Who gave birth to the frost of heaven

³⁰when water becomes as hard as stone, ⁱ

and the surface of the watery depths is frozen? ^j

³¹Can you fasten the chains of the Pleiades

or loosen the belt of Orion?

³²Can you bring out the constellations ^kin their season

and lead the Bear ^land her cubs? ^m

³³Do you know the laws ⁿof heaven?

Can you impose its ^oauthority on earth?

³⁴Can you command ^pthe clouds

so that a flood of water covers you? ^q

³⁵Can you send out lightning ^rbolts, and they go?

Do they report to you: “Here we are”?

³⁶Who put wisdom ^sin the heart ^t

or gave the mind understanding?

³⁷Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?

Or who can tilt the water jars of heaven

³⁸when the dust hardens like cast metal

and the clods of dirt stick together?

³⁹Can you hunt prey for a lioness

or satisfy the appetite of young lions ^u

⁴⁰when they crouch in their dens

and lie in wait within their lairs?

⁴¹Who provides the raven’s food ^v

when its young cry out to God

and wander about for lack of food?

39Do you know when mountain goats give birth?

Have you watched the deer in labor?

²Can you count the months they are pregnant ^w

so you can know the time they give birth?

³They crouch down to give birth to their young;

they deliver their newborn. ^x

⁴Their offspring are healthy and grow up in the open field.

They leave and do not return. ^y

⁵Who set the wild donkey free?

Who released the swift donkey from its harness?

⁶I made the wilderness ^zits home,

and the salty ^awasteland its dwelling.

⁷It scoffs at the noise of the village

and never hears the shouts of a driver. ^b

⁸It roams the mountains for its pastureland,

searching for anything green.

⁹Would the wild ox be willing to serve you?

Would it spend the night by your feeding trough?

¹⁰Can you hold the wild ox ^cto a furrow by its harness?

Will it plow the valleys behind you?

¹¹Can you depend on it because its strength is great?

Would you leave it to do your hard work?

¹²Can you trust the wild ox to harvest your grain

and bring it to your threshing floor?

¹³The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,

but are her feathers and plumage like the stork’s? ^de

¹⁴She abandons her eggs on the ground

and lets them be warmed in the sand.

¹⁵She forgets that a foot may crush them

or that some wild animal may trample them.

¹⁶She treats her young harshly, as if they were not her own,

with no fear that her labor may have been in vain.

¹⁷For God has deprived her of wisdom;

He has not endowed her with understanding. ^f

¹⁸When she proudly ^gspreads her wings,

she laughs at the horse and its rider.

¹⁹Do you give strength to the horse?

Do you adorn his neck with a mane? ^h

²⁰Do you make him leap like a locust?

His proud snorting fills one with terror.

²¹He paws ⁱin the valley and rejoices in his strength;

He charges into battle. ^j

²²He laughs at fear, since he is afraid of nothing;

he does not run from the sword.

²³A quiver rattles at his side,

along with a flashing spear and a lance. ^k

²⁴He charges ahead ^lwith trembling rage;

he cannot stand still at the trumpet’s sound.

²⁵When the trumpet blasts, he snorts defiantly. ^m

He smells the battle from a distance;

he hears the officers’ shouts and the battle cry.

²⁶Does the hawk take flight by your understanding

and spread its wings to the south?

²⁷Does the eagle soar at your command

and make its nest ⁿon high?

²⁸It lives on a cliff where it spends the night;

its stronghold is on a rocky crag.

²⁹From there it searches for prey; ^o

its eyes penetrate the distance.

³⁰Its brood gulps down blood,

and where the slain are, it is there. ^p

40The Lord answered Job:

²Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him?

Let him who argues with God give an answer. ^q

³Then Job answered the Lord:

⁴I am so insignificant. How can I answer You? ^r

I place my hand over my mouth.

⁵I have spoken once, and I will not reply;

twice, but now I can add nothing. ^s

⁶Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind: ^t

⁷Get ready to answer Me like a man;

When I question ^uyou, you will inform Me.

⁸Would you really challenge My justice?

Would you declare Me guilty ^vto justify yourself? ^w

⁹Do you have an arm like God’s?

Can you thunder with a voice like His?

¹⁰Adorn yourself with majesty ^xand splendor,

and clothe yourself with honor and glory.

¹¹Unleash your raging anger; ^y

look on every proud person and humiliate him. ^z

¹²Look on every proud person and humble him; ^a

trample the wicked where they stand. ^b

¹³Hide them together in the dust;

imprison them in the grave. ^c

¹⁴Then I will confess to you

that your own right hand ^dcan deliver you. ^e

¹⁵Look at Behemoth,

which I made along with you.

He eats grass like an ox.

¹⁶Look at the strength of his loins

and the power in the muscles of his belly.

¹⁷He stiffens his tail like a cedar tree;

the tendons of his thighs are woven firmly together.

¹⁸His bones are bronze tubes;

his limbs are like iron rods.

¹⁹He is the foremost of God’s works; ^f

only his Maker can draw the sword against him.

²⁰The hills yield food for him,

while all sorts of wild animals play there.

²¹He lies under the lotus plants,

hiding in the protection ^gof marshy reeds.

²²Lotus plants cover him with their shade;

the willows by the brook surround him.

²³Though the river rages, Behemoth is unafraid;

he remains confident, even if the Jordan surges up to his mouth.

²⁴Can anyone capture him while he looks on, ^h

or pierce his nose with snares?