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38:1  Then out of the storm the Lord spoke to Job.
38:2  Who are you to question my wisdom with your ignorant, empty words?
38:3  Now stand up straight and answer the questions I ask you.
38:4  Were you there when I made the world? If you know so much, tell me about it.
38:5  Who decided how large it would be? Who stretched the measuring line over it? Do you know all the answers?
38:6  What holds up the pillars that support the earth? Who laid the cornerstone of the world?
38:7  In the dawn of that day the stars sang together, and the heavenly beings shouted for joy.
38:8  Who closed the gates to hold back the sea when it burst from the womb of the earth?
38:9  It was I who covered the sea with clouds and wrapped it in darkness.
38:10  I marked a boundary for the sea and kept it behind bolted gates.
38:11  I told it, “So far and no farther! Here your powerful waves must stop.”
38:12  Job, have you ever in all your life commanded a day to dawn?
38:13  Have you ordered the dawn to seize the earth and shake the wicked from their hiding places?
38:14  Daylight makes the hills and valleys stand out like the folds of a garment, clear as the imprint of a seal on clay.
38:15  The light of day is too bright for the wicked and restrains them from doing violence.
38:16  Have you been to the springs in the depths of the sea? Have you walked on the floor of the ocean?
38:17  Has anyone ever shown you the gates that guard the dark world of the dead?
38:18  Have you any idea how big the world is? Answer me if you know.
38:19  Do you know where the light comes from or what the source of darkness is?
38:20  Can you show them how far to go, or send them back again?
38:21  I am sure you can, because you're so old and were there when the world was made!
38:22  Have you ever visited the storerooms, where I keep the snow and the hail?
38:23  I keep them ready for times of trouble, for days of battle and war.
38:24  Have you been to the place where the sun comes up, or the place from which the east wind blows?
38:25  Who dug a channel for the pouring rain and cleared the way for the thunderstorm?
38:26  Who makes rain fall where no one lives?
38:27  Who waters the dry and thirsty land, so that grass springs up?
38:28  Does either the rain or the dew have a father?
38:29  Who is the mother of the ice and the frost,
38:30  which turn the waters to stone and freeze the face of the sea?
38:31  Can you tie the Pleiades together or loosen the bonds that hold Orion?
38:32  Can you guide the stars season by season and direct the Big and the Little Dipper?
38:33  Do you know the laws that govern the skies, and can you make them apply to the earth?
38:34  Can you shout orders to the clouds and make them drench you with rain?
38:35  And if you command the lightning to flash, will it come to you and say, “At your service”?
38:36  Who tells the ibis when the Nile will flood, or who tells the rooster that rain will fall?
38:37  Who is wise enough to count the clouds and tilt them over to pour out the rain,
38:38  rain that hardens the dust into lumps?
38:39  Do you find food for lions to eat, and satisfy hungry young lions
38:40  when they hide in their caves, or lie in wait in their dens?
38:41  Who is it that feeds the ravens when they wander about hungry, when their young cry to me for food?