Job 38
38
The LORD Speaks: Who Is Able to Challenge Me?
1Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm.
2“Who is this that belittles my advice
with words that do not show any knowledge ⌞about it⌟?
3Brace yourself like a man!
I will ask you, and you will teach me.
The LORD Speaks about Creation
4“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me if you have ⌞such⌟ insight.
5Who determined its dimensions?
Certainly, you know!
Who stretched a measuring line over it?
6On what were its footings sunk?
Who laid its cornerstone
7when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8“Who shut the sea behind gates
when it burst through and came out of the womb,
9when I clothed it with clouds
and wrapped it up in dark clouds,
10when I set a limit for it
and put up bars and gates,
11when I said, ‘You may come this far but no farther.
Here your proud waves will stop’?
12“Have you ever given orders to the morning
or assigned a place for the dawn
13so that it could grab the earth by its edges
and shake wicked people out of it?
14The earth changes like clay stamped by a seal,
and ⌞parts of it⌟ stand out like ⌞folds in⌟ clothing.
15Wicked people are deprived of their light,
and an arm raised ⌞in victory⌟ is broken.
16Have you gone to the springs in the sea
or walked through the valleys of the ocean depths?
17Have the gateways to death been revealed to you,
or have you seen the gateways to total darkness?
18Have you ⌞even⌟ considered how wide the earth is?
Tell me, if you know all of this!
19“What is the way to the place where light lives?
Where is the home of darkness
20so that you may lead it to its territory,
so that you may know the path to its home?
21You must know because you were born then
and have lived such a long time!
22Have you been to the warehouses where snow is stored
or seen the warehouses for hail
23that I have stored up for the time of trouble,
for the day of battle and war?
24Which is the way to the place where light is scattered
and the east wind is spread across the earth?
25“Who made a channel for the flooding rains
and a path for the thunderstorms
26to bring rain on a land where no one lives,
on a desert where there are no humans,
27to saturate the desolate wasteland
in order to make it sprout with grass?
28Does the rain have a father?
Who gave birth to the dewdrops?
29From whose womb came the ice,
and who has given birth to the frost in the air?
30The water hardens like a stone,
and the surface of the ocean freezes over.
31“Can you connect the chains of the ⌞constellation⌟ Pleiades
or untie the ropes of Orion?
32Can you bring out the constellations at the right time
or guide Ursa Major with its cubs?
33Do you know the laws of the sky
or make them rule the earth?
34Can you call to the clouds
and have a flood of water cover you?
35Can you send lightning flashes so that they may go and say to you,
‘Here we are’?
36Who put wisdom in the heart
or gave understanding to the mind?
37Who is wise enough to count the clouds
or pour out the water jars of heaven
38when the dirt hardens into clumps
and the soil clings together?
The Lioness
39“Can you hunt prey for the lioness
and satisfy the hunger of her cubs
40as they crouch in their dens
and lie ready to ambush from their lairs?
The Crow
41“Who provides food for the crow
when its young ones cry to God
and wander around in need of food?
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Job 38: GW
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Job 38
38
1Then the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind, and said:
2Who is this that wrappeth up sentences in unskillful words?
3Gird up thy loins like a man. I will ask thee, and answer thou me.
4Where wast thou when I laid up the foundations of the earth? Tell me if thou hast understanding.
5Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched the line upon it?
6Upon what are its bases grounded? Or who laid the corner stone thereof,
7When the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody?
8Who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth as issuing out of the womb:
9When I made a cloud the garment thereof, and wrapped it in a mist as in swaddling bands?
10I set my bounds around it, and made it bars and doors:
11And I said: Hitherto thou shalt come, and shalt go no further. And here thou shalt break thy swelling waves.
12Didst thou since thy birth command the morning, and shew the dawning of the day its place?
13And didst thou hold the extremities of the earth shaking them? And hast thou shaken the ungodly out of it?
14The seal shall be restored as clay, and shall stand as a garment.
15From the wicked their light shall be taken away: and the high arm shall be broken.
16Hast thou entered into the depths of the sea, and walked in the lowest parts of the deep?
17Have the gates of death been opened to thee, and hast thou seen the darksome doors?
18Hast thou considered the breadth of the earth? Tell me, if thou knowest all things?
19Where is the way where light dwelleth; and where is the place of darkness?
20That thou mayst bring every thing to its own bounds, and understand the paths of the house thereof.
21Didst thou know then that thou shouldst be born? And didst thou know the number of thy days?
22Hast thou entered into the storehouses of the snow? Or has thou beheld the treasures of the hail:
23Which I have prepared for the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war?
24By what way is the light spread, and heat divided upon the earth?
25Who gave a course to violent showers, or a way for noisy thunder:
26That it should rain on the earth without man in the wilderness, where no mortal dwelleth:
27That it should fill the desert and desolate land, and should bring forth green grass?
28Who is the father of rain? Or who begot the drops of dew?
29Out of whose womb came the ice. And the frost from heaven who hath gendered it?
30The waters are hardened like a stone: and the surface of the deep is congealed.
31Shalt thou be able to join together the shining stars of the Pleiades, or canst thou stop the turning about of Arcturus?
32Canst thou bring forth the day-star in its time, and make the evening-star to rise upon the children of the earth?
33Dost thou know the order of heaven? And canst thou set down the reason thereof on the earth?
34Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that an abundance of waters may cover thee?
35Canst thou send lightnings? And will they go, and will they return and say to thee: Here we are?
36Who hath put wisdom in the heart of man? Or who gave the cock understanding?
37Who can declare the order of the heavens? Or who can make the harmony of heaven to sleep?
38When was the dust poured on the earth, and the clods fastened together?
39Wilt thou take the prey for the lioness, and satisfy the appetite of her whelps,
40When they couch in the dens and lie in wait in holes?
41Who provideth food for the raven, when her young ones cry to God, wandering about, because they have no meat?
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.