Job 38

¹ And after Elius had ceased from speaking, the Lord spoke to Job through the whirlwind and clouds, saying,

² Who is this that hides counsel from me, and confines words in his heart, and thinks to conceal them from me ?

³ Gird thy loins like a man ; and I will ask thee, and do thou answer me.

⁴ Where wast thou when I founded the earth ? tell me now, if thou hast knowledge,

⁵ who set the measures of it, if thou knowest ? or who stretched a line upon it ?

⁶ On what are its rings fastened ? and who is he that laid the corner-stone upon it ?

⁷ When the stars were made, all my angels praised me with a loud voice.

⁸ And I shut up the sea with gates, when it rushed out, coming forth out of its mother's womb.

⁹ And I made a cloud its clothing, and swathed it in mist.

¹⁰ And I set bounds to it, surrounding it with bars and gates.

¹¹ And I said to it, Hitherto shalt thou come, but thou shalt not go beyond, but thy waves shall be confined within thee.

¹² Or did I order the morning light in thy time ; and did the morning star then first see his appointed place ;

¹³ to lay hold of the extremities of the earth, to cast out the ungodly out of it ?

¹⁴ Or didst thou take clay of the ground, and form a living creature, and set it with the power of speech upon the earth ?

¹⁵ And hast thou removed light from the ungodly, and crushed the arm of the proud ?

¹⁶ Or hast thou gone to the source of the sea, and walked in the tracks of the deep ?

¹⁷ And do the gates of death open to thee for fear ; and did the porters of hell quake when they saw thee ?

¹⁸ And hast thou been instructed in the breadth of the whole earth under heaven ? tell me now, what is the extent of it ?

¹⁹ And in what kind of a land does the light dwell ? and of what kind is the place of darkness ?

²⁰ If thou couldest bring me to their utmost boundaries, and if also thou knowest their paths ;

²¹ I know then that thou wert born at that time, and the number of thy years is great.

²² But hast thou gone to the treasures of snow ? and hast thou seen the treasures of hail ?

²³ And is there a store of them, for thee against the time of thine enemies, for the day of wars and battle ?

²⁴ And whence proceeds the frost ? or whence is the south wind dispersed over the whole world under heaven ?

²⁵ And who prepared a course for the violent rain, and a way for the thunders ;

²⁶ to rain upon the land where there is no man, the wilderness, where there is not a man in it ; so as to feed the untrodden and uninhabited land,

²⁷ and cause it to send forth a crop of green herbs ?

²⁸ Who is the rain's father ? and who has generated the drops of dew ?

²⁹ And out of whose womb comes the ice ? and who has produced the frost in the sky,

³⁰ which descends like flowing water ? who has terrified the face of the ungodly ?

³¹ And dost thou understand the band of Pleias, and hast thou opened the barrier of Orion ?

³² Or wilt thou reveal Mazuroth in his season, and the evening star with his rays ? Wilt thou guide them ?

³³ And knowest thou the changes of heaven, or the events which take place together under heaven ?

³⁴ And wilt thou call a cloud with thy voice, and will it obey thee with a violent shower of much rain ?

³⁵ And wilt thou send lightnings, and they shall go ? and shall they say to thee, What is thy pleasure ?

³⁶ And who has given to women skill in weaving, or knowledge of embroidery ?

³⁷ And who is he that numbers the clouds in wisdom, and has bowed the heaven down to the earth ?

³⁸ For it is spread out as dusty earth, and I have cemented it as one hewn stone to another.

³⁹ And wilt thou hunt a prey for the lions ? and satisfy the desires of the serpents ?

⁴⁰ For they fear in their lairs, and lying in wait couch in the woods.

⁴¹ And who has prepared food for the raven ? for its young ones wander and cry to the Lord, in search of food.