Job 38

The Lord Questions Job

38Then the Lord answered Job from the storm. He said:

²“Who is this that makes my purpose unclear

by saying things that are not true?

³Be strong like a man!

I will ask you questions,

and you must answer me.

⁴Where were you when I made the earth’s foundation?

Tell me, if you understand.

⁵Who marked off how big it should be? Surely you know!

Who stretched a ruler across it?

⁶What were the earth’s foundations set on,

or who put its cornerstone in place

⁷while the morning stars sang together

and all the angels shouted with joy?

⁸“Who shut the doors to keep the sea in

when it broke through and was born,

⁹when I made the clouds like a coat for the sea

and wrapped it in dark clouds,

¹⁰when I put limits on the sea

and put its doors and bars in place,

¹¹when I said to the sea, ‘You may come this far, but no farther;

this is where your proud waves must stop’?

¹²“Have you ever ordered the morning to begin,

or shown the dawn where its place was

¹³in order to take hold of the earth by its edges

and shake evil people out of it?

¹⁴At dawn the earth changes like clay being pressed by a seal;

the hills and valleys stand out like folds in a coat.

¹⁵Light is not given to evil people;

their arm is raised to do harm, but it is broken.

¹⁶“Have you ever gone to where the sea begins

or walked in the valleys under the sea?

¹⁷Have the gates of death been opened to you?

Have you seen the gates of the deep darkness?

¹⁸Do you understand how wide the earth is?

Tell me, if you know all these things.

¹⁹“What is the path to light’s home,

and where does darkness live?

²⁰Can you take them to their places?

Do you know the way to their homes?

²¹Surely you know, if you were already born when all this happened!

Have you lived that many years?

²²“Have you ever gone into the storehouse of the snow

or seen the storehouses for hail,

²³which I save for times of trouble,

for days of war and battle?

²⁴Where is the place from which light comes?

Where is the place from which the east winds blow over the earth?

²⁵Who cuts a waterway for the heavy rains

and sets a path for the thunderstorm?

²⁶Who waters the land where no one lives,

the desert that has no one in it?

²⁷Who sends rain to satisfy the empty land

so the grass begins to grow?

²⁸Does the rain have a father?

Who is father to the drops of dew?

²⁹Who is the mother of the ice?

Who gives birth to the frost from the sky

³⁰when the water becomes hard as stone,

and even the surface of the ocean is frozen?

³¹“Can you tie up the stars of the Pleiades

or loosen the ropes of the stars in Orion?

³²Can you bring out the stars on time

or lead out the stars of the Bear with its cubs?

³³Do you know the laws of the sky

and understand their rule over the earth?

³⁴“Can you shout an order to the clouds

and cover yourself with a flood of water?

³⁵Can you send lightning bolts on their way?

Do they come to you and say, ‘Here we are’?

³⁶Who put wisdom inside the mind

or understanding in the heart?

³⁷Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?

Who can pour water from the jars of the sky

³⁸when the dust becomes hard

and the clumps of dirt stick together?

³⁹“Do you hunt food for the female lion

to satisfy the hunger of the young lions

⁴⁰while they lie in their dens

or hide in the bushes waiting to attack?

⁴¹Who gives food to the birds

when their young cry out to God

and wander about without food?