37 “At this, my own heart trembles
and leaps out of its place.
² Just listen to the rumbling of his voice,
to the thunder that comes from his mouth!
³ He sends it out under all of heaven,
his lightning to the ends of the earth.
⁴ There follows a sound, a roar —
he is thundering with his majestic voice,
and he keeps releasing [the lightning]
even while his voice is being heard.

⁵ “God thunders wonderfully with his voice,
he does great things beyond our understanding.
⁶ He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth!’ —
likewise to the light rain, also to the downpour.
⁷ He brings all human activity to a stop,
so that everyone he has made can know it.
⁸ Then the animals go into their lairs
and hibernate in their dens.

⁹ “Out of its chamber comes the storm,
with cold out of the north.
¹⁰ By the breath of God, ice is given,
and the wide waters freeze over.
¹¹ He weighs the clouds down with moisture,
and they flash forth his lightning.
¹² He, by his plans, turns them around,
so they do what he commands them anywhere on earth;
¹³ he brings them forth on the earth
sometimes to punish, sometimes to express his grace.

¹⁴ “Listen to this, Iyov!
Stop, and consider God’s wonders.
¹⁵ Do you know how God puts them in place,
how he causes lightning to flash from his cloud?
¹⁶ Do you know how he balances the clouds?
These are marvels of him who knows everything!

¹⁷ “You, sweltering in your clothing
as the earth lies still under a sultry south wind,
¹⁸ can you, with him, spread out the sky,
hard as a cast metal mirror?
¹⁹ Teach us what we should tell him,
for the darkness keeps us from organizing our case.
²⁰ Is he to be told that I will speak?
Can a man speak at all when he is already swallowed up?
²¹ Now people don’t see the light,
which is bright in the sky;
but then the wind blows
and clears [the clouds] away.
²² Out of the north comes a golden glow,
fearsome majesty surrounding God.
²³ Shaddai, whom we cannot find,
whose power is immense,
in his great righteousness
does not pervert justice.
²⁴ This is why people fear him;
he does not consider those
who think of themselves as wise.”

38 Then Adonai answered Iyov out of the storm:

² “Who is this, darkening my plans
with his ignorant words?
³ Stand up like a man, and brace yourself;
I will ask questions; and you, give the answers!

⁴ “Where were you when I founded the earth?
Tell me, if you know so much.
⁵ Do you know who determined its dimensions
or who stretched the measuring line across it?
⁶ On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,
⁷ when the morning stars sang together,
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸ “Who shut up the sea behind closed doors
when it gushed forth from the womb,
⁹ when I made the clouds its blanket
and dense fog its swaddling cloth,
¹⁰ when I made the breakers its boundary
set its gates and bars,
¹¹ and said, ‘You may come this far, but no farther;
here your proud waves must stop’?

¹² “Have you ever in your life called up the dawn
and made the morning know its place,
¹³ so that it could take hold of the edges of the earth
and shake the wicked out of it?
¹⁴ Then the earth is changed like clay under a seal,
until its colors are fixed like those of a garment.
¹⁵ But from the wicked the light is withheld,
and the arm raised [to strike] is broken.

¹⁶ “Have you gone down to the springs of the sea
or explored the limits of the deep?
¹⁷ Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
the gates of death-like darkness?
¹⁸ Have you surveyed the full extent of the earth?
Say so, if you know it all!

¹⁹ “Which way leads to where light has its home?
and darkness, where does it dwell?
²⁰ If you knew, you could take each to its place
and set it on its homeward path.
²¹ You know, of course, because you were born then;
by now you must be very old!

²² “Have you gone into the storehouses for snow
or seen the storehouses for hail,
²³ which I save for times of trouble,
for days of battle and war?

²⁴ “By what path is light dispersed,
or the east wind poured out on the land?
²⁵ Who cut a channel for the downpours,
or a way for the lightning and thunder,
²⁶ causing it to rain where no one is,
in a desert without anyone there,
²⁷ drenching the waste and desolate [ground],
till the tender grass sprouts?
²⁸ Does the rain have a father?
Who is the father of dewdrops?
²⁹ From whose womb does ice come?
Who gives birth to the frost of heaven,
³⁰ when water becomes as hard as stone,
and the surface of the deep freezes solid?

³¹ “Can you tie up the cords of the Pleiades
or loosen the belt of Orion?
³² Can you lead out the constellations of the zodiac in their season
or guide the Great Bear and its cubs?
³³ Do you know the laws of the sky?
Can you determine how they affect the earth?
³⁴ “Can you raise your voice to the clouds
and make them cover you with a flood of rain?
³⁵ Can you send lightning bolts on their way?
Will they say to you, ‘Here we are’?

³⁶ “Who put wisdom in people’s inner parts?
Who gave understanding to the mind?
³⁷ Who, by wisdom, can number the clouds?
Who can tilt the water-skins of heaven,
³⁸ so that the dust becomes a mass [of mud],
and its clods stick together?

³⁹ “Can you hunt prey for a lioness
or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
⁴⁰ when they crouch in their dens
or lie in ambush in their lairs?
⁴¹ Who provides food for the raven
when his young cry out to God
and wander about for lack of food?