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Job 38

¹Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind:

²"Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

³Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me.

⁴"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

⁵Who determined its measurements--surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?

⁶On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,

⁷when 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 forth from the womb;

⁹when I made clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band,

¹⁰and prescribed bounds for it, and set bars and doors,

¹¹and said, `d 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,

¹³that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?

¹⁴It is changed like clay under the seal, and it is dyed like a garment.

¹⁵From 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?

¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

¹⁸Have 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,

²⁰that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home?

²¹You 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,

²³which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?

²⁴What 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,

²⁶to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man;

²⁷to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground put forth grass?

²⁸"Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew?

²⁹From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven?

³⁰The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

³¹"Can you bind the chains of the Plei'ades, or loose the cords of Orion?

³²Can you lead forth the Maz'zaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children?

³³Do 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?

³⁵Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, `d say to you, "Here we are'?

³⁶Who has put wisdom in the clouds, or given understanding to the mists?

³⁷Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,

³⁸when the dust runs into a mass and the clods cleave fast together?

³⁹"Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

⁴⁰when they crouch in their dens, or lie in wait in their covert?

⁴¹Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food?

Job 38 (RSV)

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Job

Chapter 38

38 of 42