Job 38

¹Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind, ²“Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? ³Brace yourself like a man, for I will question you, then you answer me! ⁴“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding. ⁵Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it? ⁶Whereupon were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, 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 broke out of the womb, ⁹when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness, ¹⁰marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors, ¹¹and said, ‘Here you may come, but no further. Here your proud waves shall be stayed?’ ¹²“Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place; ¹³that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it? ¹⁴It is changed as clay under the seal, and presented as a garment. ¹⁵From the wicked, their light is withheld. The high arm is broken. ¹⁶“Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep? ¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? ¹⁸Have you comprehended the earth in its width? Declare, if you know it all. ¹⁹“What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place, ²⁰that you should take it to its bound, that you should discern the paths to its house? ²¹Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great! ²²Have you entered the treasuries of the snow, or have you seen the treasures of the hail, ²³which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war? ²⁴By what way is the lightning distributed, or the east wind scattered on the earth? ²⁵Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm; ²⁶To cause it to rain on a land where no man is; on the wilderness, in which there is no man; ²⁷to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to grow? ²⁸Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew? ²⁹Out of whose womb came the ice? The gray frost of the sky, who has given birth to it? ³⁰The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen. ³¹“Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion? ³²Can you lead the constellations out in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs? ³³Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish its dominion over the earth? ³⁴“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That abundance of waters may cover you? ³⁵Can you send out lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are?’ ³⁶Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind? ³⁷Who can count the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of the sky, ³⁸when the dust runs into a mass, and the clods of earth stick together? ³⁹“Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, ⁴⁰when they crouch in their dens, and lie in wait in the thicket? ⁴¹Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?

World English Bible (public domain)