约伯记 38
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)
耶和华回答约伯
38 那时，耶和华从旋风中回答约伯说：
2 “是谁用无知的话蒙蔽我的旨意？
3 你要像勇士一样束腰备战，
我来提问，你来回答。
4 “我立大地根基的时候，你在哪里？
你若那么聪明，请告诉我。
5 你可知道谁为大地定的尺寸？
谁用准绳把它丈量？
6 是什么支撑大地的根基？
谁为它安放的基石？
7 当时晨星齐声歌唱，
众天使都发出欢呼。
8 “大海从母胎奔腾而出时，
谁为它划定界限？
9 是我为大海披上云彩，
为它裹上厚厚的幽暗。
10 是我为它划定界限，
并安上门和闩，
11 说，‘你到此为止，不可越界；
你狂傲的波涛要停在这里。’
12 “你生平可曾向晨曦发号施令，
为黎明的曙光指定岗位，
13 使阳光普照大地，
抖出藏匿的恶人？
14 日光使大地改观，如泥上盖印，
万物如衣服般显出颜色。
15 恶人得不到光明，
强横的臂膀必折断。
16 你可曾到过大海的源头，
走过深渊的底部？
17 死亡之门可曾向你显露？
你可曾见过幽冥之门？
18 你知道大地有多广阔吗？
你若知道，就告诉我吧。
19 “哪条路通往光明的居所？
哪里是黑暗的住处？
20 你能把它们带回原处吗？
你认识通往其居所的路吗？
21 你肯定知道，
因为那时你已出生，
你的寿数又很长久！
22 “你曾到过雪库，
或见过雹仓吗？
23 那是我为降灾之时，
为争战之日而预备的。
24 光从哪条路散开？
东风从哪条路吹向大地？
25 谁为豪雨开水道，
为雷电辟路径，
26 使雨水降在杳无人烟之地，
降在无人居住的旷野，
27 以滋润荒凉不毛之地，
使土地长出青草？
28 雨水有父亲吗？
谁生的露珠？
29 冰出自谁的胎？
谁生的天上的霜？
30 水变得坚硬如石，
深渊表面凝结成冰。
31 “你能系住昴星的结，
解开参星的带吗？
32 你能按季节领出星座，
引导北斗及其众星吗？
33 你知道天的定律吗？
你能使地服从天律吗？
34 你能号令云彩，
使倾盆大雨覆盖你吗？
35 你能命闪电发出，
让它听候调遣吗？
36 谁将智慧放在人胸中？
谁使人内心有聪明？
37-38 尘土结成硬团，
土块黏在一起时，
谁能凭智慧数算云彩？
谁能倾倒天上的水囊？
39-40 “狮子卧在洞中，
壮狮埋伏在隐秘处，
你能为它们猎取食物，
使它们饱餐吗？
41 乌鸦的幼雏饿得飞来飞去，
向上帝哀鸣时，
谁供应乌鸦食物？
Job 38
EasyEnglish Bible
The Lord asks Job some questions[a]
38 The Lord spoke to Job from the middle of the storm. This is what he said:
2 ‘Who do you think you are?
Why do you ask questions about my wisdom?
You speak many words,
but you do not understand anything.
3 Prepare yourself for a difficult job!
I will ask you some questions and you must answer them.
4 Were you with me when I made the world?
If you think you are so clever,
tell me all about it!
5 It was me who decided the size of the world.
You surely must know that!
I measured it as I made it.
6 Tell me how I fixed the foundations of the earth.
Who made it stay in its right place? I did!
7 At the dawn of that day, the stars sang together.
They sang for joy with all the angels.
8 When the sea poured out of the ground,
I decided where its borders should be.
I kept the water in its right place.
9 I caused the clouds to come over the sea.
I covered it with complete darkness.
10 I put a border around the sea.
I locked it in its place.
11 I said to the sea, “This is as far as you can come.
You may come no further.
Your powerful waves must stop there!”
12 But you, Job, did you ever command the morning to begin?
No! You have never in your whole life told the sun when it should rise.
13 You have not told the light of day to cover the earth.
You have not told it to chase away the wicked things that happen in the night.
14 When the light of day comes,
people see the land clearly.
Its shape and colours show like bright clothes.
15 The light of day is too bright for wicked people.
It destroys their power to do cruel things.
16 You have not gone to the springs
that fill the seas with water.
You have not walked on the bottom of the deep seas.
17 Nobody has showed you the gates of death.
People go through them to that very dark place.
18 You do not understand the great size of the earth.
If you know all about that, tell me!
19 You do not know where light comes from.
You do not know where darkness has its home.
20 Can you take them to the places where they belong?
Do you know the roads that go there?
21 Surely you must know all this,
because you have lived for so long!
It seems that you were already born
when I created these things![b]
22 Have you visited the place where I keep all the snow?
Or the place where I keep the hail?
23 I keep the snow and the hail ready to use.
I use them in times of trouble and wars.
24 You do not know where lightning comes from.
Or where the east wind starts
when it blows across the earth.
25 I make a path for the storms to travel along.
I tell the thunder and the strong rain which way to go.
26 I cause rain to fall in places where no person lives.
It makes even a desert become a wet place.
27 The rain falls on dry ground where nothing grows.
It causes grass to grow there again.
28 Do you know if the rain has a father?
Who is a father to the dew?
29 Who is a mother to the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost that makes the air so cold?
30 It causes the water to become as hard as stone.
The water of the sea also becomes ice.
31 You cannot make the stars of the Pleiades stay in their places.
You cannot change the shape of Orion.
32 You bring out the groups of stars
for people to see at different times of the year.
You cannot put the stars of the Great Bear and the Little Bear
in their right places in the sky.[c]
33 You do not know the rules that the stars above obey.
You cannot make the earth obey those rules.
34 You cannot shout commands to the clouds.
You cannot tell them to pour down their rain,
so that a flood of water covers you.
35 You cannot send the lightning
to hit the place that you want it to go.
The lightning does not say to you,
“We are ready to go wherever you want.”
36 Who has given people wisdom,
so that they understand things with their minds?
37 Is anyone wise enough to count the clouds?
Can anyone cause the clouds to pour down rain from above?
38 The rain causes the dust of the dry ground to become hard.
The dry soil becomes pieces of mud.
39 When the lions become hungry,
can you find food for the young lions to eat?
40 You cannot do that for them
when they sit in their caves.
You cannot help them as they hide in the bushes,
ready to attack other animals.
41 You cannot find food for the ravens to eat.
You cannot help them when their babies cry to me
because they are weak and hungry.’
Footnotes
- 38:1 In chapters 38 to 41, God speaks to Job. He asks Job questions. He knows that Job must answer ‘No.’ There are a lot of things that only God knows. Job does not know these things. There are a lot of things that only God can do. Job cannot do any of these things. God tells Job that only he is completely wise and powerful. He knows what is right and fair.
- 38:21 God is laughing at Job. Job thinks that he knows everything about God. But Job was not with God when God made the world. So Job cannot know about all the things that God has done.
- 38:32 Pleiades, Orion, the Great Bear and the Little Bear are groups of stars.
Job 38
King James Version
38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
2 Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
7 When 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 brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,
10 And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,
11 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
12 Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;
13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?
14 It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.
15 And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.
16 Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?
17 Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?
18 Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all.
19 Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof,
20 That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?
21 Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great?
22 Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,
23 Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?
24 By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?
25 Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;
26 To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;
27 To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?
28 Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
29 Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?
30 The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.
31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
32 Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
33 Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?
34 Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?
35 Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go and say unto thee, Here we are?
36 Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?
37 Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven,
38 When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together?
39 Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions,
40 When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait?
41 Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.
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