Job 38:1–18

The Lord Answers Job

38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:*

2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?*

3 Gird up your loins like a man;

I will question you, and you shall declare to me.*

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

Tell me, if you have understanding.*

5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know!

Or who stretched the line upon it?

6 On what were its bases sunk,

or who laid its cornerstone*

7 when the morning stars sang together

and all the heavenly beingsf shouted for joy?*

8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors

when it burst out from the womb,*

9 when I made the clouds its garment

and thick darkness its swaddling band,*

10 and prescribed bounds for it,

and set bars and doors,*

11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you come and no farther,

and here shall your proud waves be stopped’?*

12 “Have you commanded the morning since your days began

and caused the dawn to know its place,*

13 so that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,

and the wicked be shaken out of it?*

14 It is changed like clay under the seal,

and it is dyedg like a garment.

15 Light is withheld from the wicked,

and their uplifted arm is broken.*

16 “Have you entered into the springs of the sea

or walked in the recesses of the deep?*

17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you,

or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?*

18 Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?

Declare, if you know all this.*