Job 38
38
The LORD answers from a whirlwind
1Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind:
2Who is this darkening counsel
with words lacking knowledge?
3Prepare yourself like a man;
I will interrogate you, and you will respond to me.
The establishing of order
4Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations?
Tell me if you know.
5Who set its measurements? Surely you know.
Who stretched a measuring tape on it?
6On what were its footings sunk;
who laid its cornerstone,
7while the morning stars sang in unison
and all the divine beings shouted?
8Who enclosed the Sea#38.8 Heb Yam, a sea god behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
9when I made the clouds its garment,
the dense clouds its wrap,
10when I imposed#38.10 Heb uncertain my limit for it,
put on a bar and doors
11and said, “You may come this far, no farther;
here your proud waves stop”?
12In your lifetime have you commanded the morning,
informed the dawn of its place
13so it would take hold of earth by its edges
and shake the wicked out of it?
14Do you turn it over like clay for a seal,
so it stands out like a colorful garment?
15Light is withheld from the wicked,
the uplifted arm broken.
The vast beyond
16Have you gone to the sea’s sources,
walked in the chamber of the deep?
17Have death’s gates been revealed to you;
can you see the gates of deep darkness?
18Have you surveyed earth’s expanses?
Tell me if you know everything about it.
19Where’s the road to the place where light dwells;
darkness, where’s it located?
20Can you take it to its territory;
do you know the paths to its house?
21You know, for you were born then;
you have lived such a long time!#38.21 Or the number of your days is many
22Have you gone to snow’s storehouses,
seen the storehouses of hail
23that I have reserved for a time of distress,
for a day of battle and war?
24What is the way to the place where light is divided up;
the east wind scattered over earth?
Meteorological facts
25Who cut a channel for the downpours
and a way for blasts of thunder
26to bring water to uninhabited land,
a desert with no human
27to saturate dry wasteland
and make grass sprout?
28Has the rain a father
who brought forth drops of dew?
29From whose belly does ice come;
who gave birth to heaven’s frost?
30Water hardens like stone;
the surface of the deep thickens.
31Can you bind Pleiades’ chains
or loosen the reins of Orion?
32Can you guide the stars
at their proper times,
lead the Bear with her cubs?
33Do you know heaven’s laws,
or can you impose its rule on earth?
34Can you issue an order to the clouds
so their abundant waters cover you?
35Can you send lightning so that it goes
and then says to you, “I’m here”?
36Who put wisdom in remote places,
or who gave understanding to a rooster?#38.36 Heb uncertain
37Who is wise enough to count the clouds,
and who can tilt heaven’s water containers
38so that dust becomes mud
and clods of dirt adhere?
Lion and raven
39Can you hunt prey for the lion
or fill the cravings of lion cubs?
40They lie in their den,
lie in ambush in their lair.
41Who provides food for the raven
when its young cry to God,
move about without food?
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Job 38: CEB
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
Job 38
38
1Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
2Who is this that darkeneth counsel
By words without knowledge?
3Gird up now thy loins like a man;
For I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me
4Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Declare, if thou hast understanding.
5Who determined the measures thereof, if thou knowest?
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6Whereupon were the foundations thereof fastened?
Or who laid the corner stone thereof;
7When the morning stars sang together,
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 Or who shut up the sea with doors,
When it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb;
9When I made the cloud the garment thereof,
And thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,
10And prescribed for it my decree,
And set bars and doors,
11And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further;
And here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
12Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days began,
And caused the dayspring to know its place;
13That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
And the wicked be shaken out of it?
14It is changed as clay under the seal;
And all things stand forth as a garment:
15And from the wicked their light is withholden,
And the high arm is broken.
16Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?
Or hast thou walked in the recesses of the deep?
17Have the gates of death been revealed unto thee?
Or hast thou seen the gates of the shadow of death?
18Hast thou comprehended the breadth of the earth?
Declare, if thou knowest it all.
19Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
And as for darkness, where is the place thereof;
20That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof,
And that thou shouldest discern the paths to the house thereof?
21 Doubtless, thou knowest, for thou wast then born,
And the number of thy days is great!
22Hast thou entered the treasuries of the snow,
Or hast thou seen the treasuries of the hail,
23Which I have reserved against the time of trouble,
Against the day of battle and war?
24By what way is the light parted,
Or the east wind scattered upon the earth?
25Who hath cleft a channel for the waterflood,
Or a way for the lightning of the thunder;
26To cause it to rain on a land where no man is;
On the wilderness, wherein there is no man;
27To satisfy the waste and desolate ground;
And to cause the tender grass to spring forth?
28Hath the rain a father?
Or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
29Out of whose womb came the ice?
And the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?
30The waters are hidden as with stone,
And the face of the deep is frozen.
31Canst thou bind the cluster of the Pleiades,
Or loose the bands of Orion?
32Canst thou lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season?
Or canst thou guide the Bear with her train?
33Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens?
Canst thou establish the dominion thereof in the earth?
34Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds,
That abundance of waters may cover thee?
35Canst thou send forth lightnings, that they may go,
And say unto thee, Here we are?
36Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts?
Or who hath given understanding to the mind?
37Who can number the clouds by wisdom?
Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven,
38When the dust runneth into a mass,
And the clods cleave fast together?
39Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lioness?
Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40When they couch in their dens,
And abide in the covert to lie in wait?
41Who provideth for the raven his food, when his young ones cry unto God,
And wander for lack of meat?
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