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38:1  Then Adonai answered Job out of the whirlwind. He said:
38:2  “Who is this, who darkens counsel with words without knowledge?
38:3  Now gird up your loins like a man; I will question you, and you will inform Me!
38:4  “Where were you when I laid the foundations of earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.
38:5  Who set its dimensions—if you know— or who stretched a line over it?
38:6  On what were its foundations set, or who laid its cornerstone—
38:7  when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
38:8  “And who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,
38:9  when I made a cloud its garment and thick darkness its swaddling cloth,
38:10  when I prescribed my boundary for it, and set bars and gates,
38:11  when I said, ‘This far you may come, but no further; here your majestic waves will stop.’
38:12  “Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, or caused dawn to know its place;
38:13  that it would take hold of the corners of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?
38:14  It changes shape like clay under a seal— they stand out like those of a garment.
38:15  And from the wicked their light is withheld, and the upraised arm is broken.
38:16  “Have you gone to the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?
38:17  Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
38:18  Have you comprehended the expanses of the earth? If you know it all, declare it!
38:19  In what direction does light dwell, and darkness, where is its place—
38:20  that you can take it to its borders, and discern the paths to its home?
38:21  Surely you know, for you were born then; and the number of your days is great!
38:22  “Have you entered the storehouses of snow or seen the storehouses of hail,
38:23  which I reserved for a time of distress, for a day of battle and war?
38:24  In what direction is light distributed, or the east wind scattered over the earth?
38:25  Who cuts a channel for the flood, and a path for the thunderstorm,
38:26  to cause it to rain on an uninhabited land, a desert with no one in it,
38:27  to satisfy a devastated and desolate land, and cause it to sprout grass?
38:28  Does the rain have a father, or who has birthed the drops of dew?
38:29  From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost of heaven,
38:30  when the waters hide like stone, and the surface of the deep is frozen?
38:31  “Can you bind the chains of Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion?
38:32  Do you bring out the constellations in their season or guide the Bear with her cubs?
38:33  Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you set up dominion over the earth?
38:34  “Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with an abundance of water?
38:35  Can you send out lightning bolts, so they go? Will they say to you, ‘Here we are’?
38:36  Who put wisdom in the secret place or gave understanding to the mind?
38:37  Who can count the clouds by wisdom, or tip over the water jars of heaven,
38:38  when dust hardens into a mass and clods of earth stick together?
38:39  “Do you hunt prey for the lioness or satisfy the hunger of young lions,
38:40  when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in the thicket?
38:41  Who arranges provision for the raven, when its young cry out to God, and wander about for lack of food?