Job 38-39 (Amplified Bible)

Job 38

 ¹THEN THE Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,

    ²Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?^(A)

    ³Gird up now your loins like a man, and I will demand of you, and you declare to Me.

    ⁴Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Declare to Me, if you have and know understanding.

    ⁵Who determined the measures of the earth, if you know? Or who stretched the measuring line upon it?

    ⁶Upon what were the foundations of it fastened, or who laid its cornerstone,

    ⁷When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

    ⁸Or who shut up the sea with doors when it broke forth and issued out of the womb?--

    ⁹When I made the clouds the garment of it, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it,

    ¹⁰And marked for it My appointed boundary and set bars and doors,^(B)

    ¹¹And said, Thus far shall you come and no farther; and here shall your proud waves be stayed?^(C)

    ¹²Have you commanded the morning since your days began and caused the dawn to know its place,

    ¹³So that [light] may get hold of the corners of the earth and shake the wickedness [of night] out of it?

    ¹⁴It is changed like clay into which a seal is pressed; and things stand out like a many-colored garment.

    ¹⁵From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken.

    ¹⁶Have you explored 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 doors of deep darkness?

    ¹⁸Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell Me, if you know it all.

    ¹⁹Where is the ^[a]way where light dwells? And as for darkness, where is its abode,

    ²⁰That you may conduct it to its home, and may know the paths to its house?

    ²¹You must know, since you were born then! Or because you are so extremely old!

    ²²Have you entered the treasuries of the snow, or have you seen the treasuries of the hail,

    ²³Which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?^(D)

    ²⁴By what way is the light distributed, or the east wind spread over the earth?

    ²⁵Who has prepared a channel for the torrents of rain, or a path for the thunderbolt,

    ²⁶To cause it to rain on the uninhabited land [and] on the desert where no man lives,

    ²⁷To satisfy the waste and desolate ground and to cause the tender grass to spring forth?

    ²⁸Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?

    ²⁹Out of whose womb came the ice? And the hoary frost of heaven, who has given it birth?

    ³⁰The waters are congealed like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

    ³¹Can you bind the chains of [the cluster of stars called] Pleiades, or loose the cords of [the constellation] Orion?

    ³²Can you lead forth the signs of the zodiac in their season? Or can you guide [the stars of] the Bear with her young?

    ³³Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule upon the earth?

    ³⁴Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that an abundance of waters may cover you?

    ³⁵Can you send lightnings, that they may go and say to you, Here we are?

    ³⁶Who has put wisdom in the inward parts [or in the dark clouds]? Or who has given understanding to the mind [or to the meteor]?

    ³⁷Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the [water] bottles of the heavens

    ³⁸When [heat has caused] the dust to run into a mass and the clods to cleave fast together?

    ³⁹Can you [Job] hunt the prey for the lion? Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions

    ⁴⁰When they couch in their dens or lie in wait in their hiding place?

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

   

Job 39

 ¹DO YOU know the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth [their young]? [Or] do you observe when the hinds are giving birth? [Do you attend to all this, Job?]

    ²Can you number the months that they carry their offspring? Or do you know the time when they are delivered,

    ³When they bow themselves, bring forth their young ones, [and] cast out their pains?

    ⁴Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open field; they go forth and return not to them.

    ⁵Who has sent out the wild donkey, giving him his freedom? Or who has loosed the bands of the swift donkey [by which his tame brother is bound--he, the shy, the swift-footed, and the untamable],

    ⁶Whose home I have made the wilderness, and the salt land his dwelling place?

    ⁷He scorns the tumult of the city and hears not the shoutings of the taskmaster.

    ⁸The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.

    ⁹Will the wild ox be willing to serve you, or remain beside your manger?

    ¹⁰Can you bind the wild ox with a harness to the plow in the furrow? Or will he harrow the furrows for you?

    ¹¹Will you trust him because his strength is great, or to him will you leave your labor?

    ¹²Will you depend upon him to bring home your seed and gather the grain of your threshing floor? [Who, Job, was the author of this strange variance in the disposition of animals so alike in appearance? Was it you?]

    ¹³The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, [but] are they the pinions and plumage of love?

    ¹⁴The ostrich leaves her eggs on the ground and warms them in the dust,

    ¹⁵Forgetting that a foot may crush them or that the wild beast may trample them.

    ¹⁶She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers; her labor is in vain because she has no sense of danger [for her unborn brood],

    ¹⁷For God has deprived her of wisdom, neither has He imparted to her understanding.

    ¹⁸Yet when she lifts herself up in flight, [so swift is she that] she can laugh to scorn the horse and his rider.

    ¹⁹Have you given the horse his might? Have you clothed his neck with quivering and a shaking mane?

    ²⁰Was it you [Job] who made him to leap like a locust? The majesty of his [snorting] nostrils is terrible.

    ²¹He paws in the valley and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons [of armed men].

    ²²He mocks at fear and is not dismayed or terrified; neither does he turn back [in battle] from the sword.

    ²³The quiver rattles upon him, as do the glittering spear and the lance [of his rider].

    ²⁴[He seems in running to] devour the ground with fierceness and rage; neither can he stand still at the sound of the [war] trumpet.

    ²⁵As often as the trumpet sounds he says, Ha, ha! And he smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

    ²⁶Is it by your wisdom [Job] that the hawk soars and stretches her wings toward the south [as winter approaches]?

    ²⁷Does the eagle mount up at your command and make his nest on [a] high [inaccessible place]?

    ²⁸On the cliff he dwells and remains securely, upon the point of the rock and the stronghold.

    ²⁹From there he spies out the prey; and his eyes see it afar off.

    ³⁰His young ones suck up blood, and where the slain are, there is he.