Job 38:1–41

The Lord Speaks

38Then the Lord spoke to Job^w out of the storm.^x He said:

²“Who is this that obscures my plans^y

with words without knowledge?^z

³Brace yourself like a man;

I will question you,

and you shall answer me.^a

⁴“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?^b

Tell me, if you understand.^c

⁵Who marked off its dimensions?^d Surely you know!

Who stretched a measuring line^e across it?

⁶On what were its footings set,^f

or who laid its cornerstone^g—

⁷while the morning stars^h sang togetherⁱ

and all the angels^aj shouted for joy?^k

⁸“Who shut up the sea behind doors^l

when it burst forth from the womb,^m

⁹when I made the clouds its garment

and wrapped it in thick darkness,ⁿ

¹⁰when I fixed limits for it^o

and set its doors and bars in place,^p

¹¹when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;^q

here is where your proud waves halt’?^r

¹²“Have you ever given orders to the morning,^s

or shown the dawn its place,^t

¹³that it might take the earth by the edges

and shake the wicked^u out of it?^v

¹⁴The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;^w

its features stand out like those of a garment.

¹⁵The wicked are denied their light,^x

and their upraised arm is broken.^y

¹⁶“Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea

or walked in the recesses of the deep?^z

¹⁷Have the gates of death^a been shown to you?

Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?^b

¹⁸Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?^c

Tell me, if you know all this.^d

¹⁹“What is the way to the abode of light?

And where does darkness reside?^e

²⁰Can you take them to their places?

Do you know the paths^f to their dwellings?

²¹Surely you know, for you were already born!^g

You have lived so many years!

²²“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow^h

or seen the storehousesⁱ of the hail,^j

²³which I reserve for times of trouble,^k

for days of war and battle?^l

²⁴What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,^m

or the place where the east windsⁿ are scattered over the earth?^o

²⁵Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain,

and a path for the thunderstorm,^p

²⁶to water^q a land where no one lives,

an uninhabited desert,^r

²⁷to satisfy a desolate wasteland

and make it sprout with grass?^s

²⁸Does the rain have a father?^t

Who fathers the drops of dew?

²⁹From whose womb comes the ice?

Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens^u

³⁰when the waters become hard as stone,

when the surface of the deep is frozen?^v

³¹“Can you bind the chains^b of the Pleiades?

Can you loosen Orion’s belt?^w

³²Can you bring forth the constellations^x in their seasons^c

or lead out the Bear^d with its cubs?^y

³³Do you know the laws^z of the heavens?^a

Can you set up God’s^e dominion over the earth?

³⁴“Can you raise your voice to the clouds

and cover yourself with a flood of water?^b

³⁵Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?^c

Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?

³⁶Who gives the ibis wisdom^fd

or gives the rooster understanding?^ge

³⁷Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?

Who can tip over the water jars^f of the heavens^g

³⁸when the dust becomes hard^h

and the clods of earth stick together?ⁱ

³⁹“Do you hunt the prey for the lioness

and satisfy the hunger of the lions^j

⁴⁰when they crouch in their dens^k

or lie in wait in a thicket?^l

⁴¹Who provides food^m for the ravenⁿ

when its young cry out to God

and wander about for lack of food?^o