Job 38

¹But the Lord, responding to Job from a whirlwind, said

²Who is this that wraps sentences in unskilled words

³Gird your waist like a man. I will question you, and you must answer me

⁴Where were you, when I set the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding

⁵Who set its measurements, if you know, or who stretched a line over it

⁶Upon what have its bases been grounded, and who set forth its cornerstone

⁷when the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful noise

⁸Who enclosed the sea with doors, when it broke forth as if issuing from the womb

⁹when I stationed a cloud as its garment and wrapped it in a mist as if swaddling an infant

¹⁰I encircled it with my limits, and I positioned its bars and doors

¹¹And I said: “This far you will approach, and you will proceed no further, and here you will break your swelling waves.

¹²Did you, after your birth, command the birth of the sun and show the sunrise its place

¹³And did you hold the extremities of the earth, shaking them, and have you shaken the impious out of it

¹⁴The seal will be restored like clay, and it will remain in place like a garment

¹⁵From the impious, the light will be taken away, and the exalted arm will be broken

¹⁶Have you entered the depths of the sea, and have you taken a walk in the uttermost parts of the abyss

¹⁷Have the gates of death been opened to you, and have you seen the doors of darkness

¹⁸Have you considered the breadth of the earth? If you know all things, reveal them to me

¹⁹Which is the way that holds the light, and which is the place of darkness

²⁰In this way, you might lead each thing to its final place, and understand the paths of its house

²¹So then, did you know when you were to be born? And did you know the number of your days

²²Have you been admitted into the storehouses of the snows, and have you gazed upon the stockpile of the brimstone

²³which I have prepared for the time of the enemy, for the day of the battle and the war

²⁴In what way is the light scattered, and the heat distributed, over the earth

²⁵Who gave a course to the rainstorms, and a path to the resounding thunder

²⁶so that it would rain on the earth far from man, in the wilderness where no mortal lingers

²⁷so that it would fill impassable and desolate places, and would bring forth green plants

²⁸Who is the father of rain, or who conceived the drops of dew

²⁹From whose womb did the ice proceed, and who created the frost from the air

³⁰The waters are hardened to become like stone, and the surface of the abyss freezes over

³¹Will you have the strength to join together the sparkling stars of the Pleiades, or are you able to disperse the circling of Arcturus

³²Can you bring forth the morning star, in its time, and make the evening star rise over the sons of the earth

³³Do you know the order of heaven, and can you explain its rules here on the earth

³⁴Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that an onslaught of waters will cover you

³⁵Can you send forth lightning bolts, and will they go, and on returning, say to you: “Here we are?

³⁶Who placed discernment in the guts of man, or who gave the rooster intelligence

³⁷Who can describe the rules of the heavens, or who can put to rest the harmony of heaven

³⁸When was the dust cast to become the earth, and when were its clods fastened together

³⁹Will you seize prey for the lioness, and will you sustain the lives of her young

⁴⁰as they rest in their dens or lie in wait in pits

⁴¹Who provides the raven with its meal, when her chicks cry out to God, as they wander around because they have no food