Job 38:1-15 (New International Version)

Job 38

The LORD Speaks

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

 ³ Brace yourself like a man;
       I will question you,
       and you shall answer me.

 ⁴ "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?
       Tell me, if you understand.

 ⁵ Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
       Who stretched a measuring line across it?

 ⁶ On what were its footings set,
       or who laid its cornerstone-

 ⁷ while the morning stars sang together
       and all the angels ^[a] shouted for joy?

 ⁸ "Who shut up the sea behind doors
       when it burst forth from the womb,

 ⁹ when I made the clouds its garment
       and wrapped it in thick darkness,

 ¹⁰ when I fixed limits for it
       and set its doors and bars in place,

 ¹¹ when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther;
       here is where your proud waves halt'?

 ¹² "Have you ever given orders to the morning,
       or shown the dawn its place,

 ¹³ that it might take the earth by the edges
       and shake the wicked out of it?

 ¹⁴ The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
       its features stand out like those of a garment.

 ¹⁵ The wicked are denied their light,
       and their upraised arm is broken.