Job - Chapter 38 | English Standard Version

  • 1. Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
  • 2. "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
  • 3. Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known 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 sons of God shouted for joy?
  • 8. "Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb,
  • 9. when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band,
  • 10. and prescribed limits 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 stayed'?
  • 12. "Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,
  • 13. 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 its features stand out like a garment.
  • 15. From the wicked their light is withheld, 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.
  • 19. "Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness,
  • 20. that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home?
  • 21. You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!
  • 22. "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
  • 23. which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?
  • 24. What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?
  • 25. "Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt,
  • 26. to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man,
  • 27. to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass?
  • 28. "Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew?
  • 29. From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven?
  • 30. The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.
  • 31. "Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion?
  • 32. Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children?
  • 33. Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?
  • 34. "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you?
  • 35. Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, 'Here we are'?
  • 36. Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind?
  • 37. Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
  • 38. when the dust runs into a mass and the clods stick fast together?
  • 39. "Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
  • 40. when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket?
  • 41. Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?
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