Home Master Index
←Prev   Job 38 as rendered by/in  Next→ 


38:1  Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
38:2  “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
38:3  Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.
38:4  “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.
38:5  Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?
38:6  On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,
38:7  when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
38:8  “Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb,
38:9  when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band,
38:10  and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors,
38:11  and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?
38:12  “Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,
38:13  that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?
38:14  It is changed like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment.
38:15  From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken.
38:16  “Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?
38:17  Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
38:18  Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.
38:19  “Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness,
38:20  that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home?
38:21  You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!
38:22  “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
38:23  which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?
38:24  What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?
38:25  “Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt,
38:26  to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man,
38:27  to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass?
38:28  “Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew?
38:29  From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven?
38:30  The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.
38:31  “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion?
38:32  Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children?
38:33  Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?
38:34  “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you?
38:35  Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’?
38:36  Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind?
38:37  Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
38:38  when the dust runs into a mass and the clods stick fast together?
38:39  “Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
38:40  when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket?
38:41  Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?