Job 38

Chapter 38

God Speaks Now to Job

¹Then the Lord ^aanswered Job out of the whirlwind and said,

²“Who is this that ^adarkens counsel

By words without knowledge?

³“Now ^agird up your loins like a man,

And ^bI will ask you, and you instruct Me!

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

Tell Me, if you ¹have understanding,

⁵Who set its ^ameasurements? Since you know.

Or who stretched the line on it?

⁶“On what ^awere its bases sunk?

Or who laid its cornerstone,

⁷When the morning stars sang together

And all the ^asons of God shouted for joy?

⁸“Or who ^aenclosed the sea with doors

When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb;

⁹When I made a cloud its garment

And thick darkness its swaddling band,

¹⁰And I ^1aplaced boundaries on it

And set a bolt and doors,

¹¹And I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther;

And here shall your proud waves stop’?

God’s Mighty Power

¹²“Have you ¹ever in your life commanded the morning,

And caused the dawn to know its place,

¹³That it might take hold of ^athe ends of the earth,

And ^bthe wicked be shaken out of it?

¹⁴“It is changed like clay under the seal;

And they stand forth like a garment.

¹⁵“^aFrom the wicked their light is withheld,

And the ^buplifted arm is broken.

¹⁶“Have you entered into ^athe springs of the sea

Or walked ¹in the recesses of the deep?

¹⁷“Have the gates of death been revealed to you,

Or have you seen the gates of ^adeep darkness?

¹⁸“Have you understood the ¹expanse of ^athe earth?

Tell Me, if you know all this.

¹⁹“Where is the way to the dwelling of light?

And darkness, where is its place,

²⁰That you may take it to ^aits territory

And that you may discern the paths to its ¹home?

²¹“You know, for ^ayou were born then,

And the number of your days is great!

²²“Have you entered the storehouses ^aof the snow,

Or have you seen the storehouses of the ^bhail,

²³Which I have reserved for the time of distress,

For the day of war and battle?

²⁴“Where is the way that ^athe light is divided,

Or the east wind scattered on the earth?

²⁵“Who has cleft a channel for the flood,

Or a way for the thunderbolt,

²⁶To bring ^arain on a land without ¹people,

On a desert without a man in it,

²⁷To ^asatisfy the waste and desolate land

And to make the ¹seeds of grass to sprout?

²⁸“Has ^athe rain a father?

Or who has begotten the drops of dew?

²⁹“From whose womb has come the ^aice?

And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth?

³⁰“Water ¹becomes hard like stone,

And the surface of the deep is imprisoned.

³¹“Can you bind the chains of the ^aPleiades,

Or loose the cords of Orion?

³²“Can you lead forth a ¹constellation in its season,

And guide the Bear with her ²satellites?

³³“Do you know the ^aordinances of the heavens,

Or fix their rule over the earth?

³⁴“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,

So that an ^aabundance of water will cover you?

³⁵“Can you ^asend forth lightnings that they may go

And say to you, ‘Here we are’?

³⁶“Who has ^aput wisdom in the innermost being

Or given ^bunderstanding to the ¹mind?

³⁷“Who can count the clouds by wisdom,

Or ^atip the water jars of the heavens,

³⁸When the dust hardens into a mass

And the clods stick together?

³⁹“Can you hunt the ^aprey for the lion,

Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

⁴⁰When they ^acrouch in their dens

And lie in wait in their lair?

⁴¹“Who prepares for ^athe raven its nourishment

When its young cry to God

And wander about without food?