² “How have you helped him who is without power!
    How have you saved the arm that has no strength!
³ How have you counseled him who has no wisdom,
    and plentifully declared sound knowledge!
⁴ To whom have you uttered words?
    Whose spirit came out of you?

⁵ “The departed spirits tremble,
    those beneath the waters and all that live in them.
⁶ Sheol^[a] is naked before God,
    and Abaddon^[b] has no covering.
⁷ He stretches out the north over empty space,
    and hangs the earth on nothing.
⁸ He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,
    and the cloud is not burst under them.
⁹ He encloses the face of his throne,
    and spreads his cloud on it.
¹⁰ He has described a boundary on the surface of the waters,
    and to the confines of light and darkness.
¹¹ The pillars of heaven tremble
    and are astonished at his rebuke.
¹² He stirs up the sea with his power,
    and by his understanding he strikes through Rahab.
¹³ By his Spirit the heavens are garnished.
    His hand has pierced the swift serpent.
¹⁴ Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways.
    How small a whisper do we hear of him!
    But the thunder of his power who can understand?”