Job 38

Tree of Life Version

² “Who is this, who darkens counsel
    with words without knowledge?
³ Now gird up your loins like a man;
    I will question you,
    and you will inform Me!

⁴ “Where were you when I laid the foundations of earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding.
⁵ Who set its dimensions—if you know—
    or who stretched a line over it?
⁶ On what were its foundations set,
    or who laid its cornerstone—
⁷ when the morning stars sang together,
    and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸ “And who shut up the sea behind doors
    when it burst forth from the womb,
⁹ when I made a cloud its garment
    and thick darkness its swaddling cloth,
¹⁰ when I prescribed my boundary for it,
    and set bars and gates,
¹¹ when I said, ‘This far you may come, but no further;
        here your majestic waves will stop.’
¹² “Have you ever in your life commanded the morning,
    or caused dawn to know its place;
¹³ that it would take hold of the corners of the earth
    and shake the wicked out of it?
¹⁴ It changes shape like clay under a seal—
    they stand out like those of a garment.
¹⁵ And from the wicked their light is withheld,
    and the upraised arm is broken.

¹⁶ “Have you gone to the springs of the sea,
    or walked in the recesses of the deep?
¹⁷ Have the gates of death been revealed to you?
    Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
¹⁸ Have you comprehended the expanses of the earth?
    If you know it all, declare it!
¹⁹ In what direction does light dwell,
    and darkness, where is its place—
²⁰ that you can take it to its borders,
    and discern the paths to its home?
²¹ Surely you know, for you were born then;
    and the number of your days is great!

²² “Have you entered the storehouses of snow
    or seen the storehouses of hail,
²³ which I reserved for a time of distress,
    for a day of battle and war?
²⁴ In what direction is light distributed,
    or the east wind scattered over the earth?
²⁵ Who cuts a channel for the flood,
    and a path for the thunderstorm,
²⁶ to cause it to rain on an uninhabited land,
    a desert with no one in it,
²⁷ to satisfy a devastated and desolate land,
    and cause it to sprout grass?
²⁸ Does the rain have a father,
    or who has birthed the drops of dew?
²⁹ From whose womb comes the ice?
    Who gives birth to the frost of heaven,
³⁰ when the waters hide like stone,
    and the surface of the deep is frozen?

³¹ “Can you bind the chains of Pleiades
    or loosen the belt of Orion?
³² Do you bring out the constellations in their season
    or guide the Bear with her cubs?
³³ Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
    Can you set up dominion over the earth?

³⁴ “Can you raise your voice to the clouds
    and cover yourself with an abundance of water?
³⁵ Can you send out lightning bolts, so they go?
Will they say to you, ‘Here we are’?
³⁶ Who put wisdom in the secret place
    or gave understanding to the mind?
³⁷ Who can count the clouds by wisdom,
    or tip over the water jars of heaven,
³⁸ when dust hardens into a mass
    and clods of earth stick together?

³⁹ “Do you hunt prey for the lioness
    or satisfy the hunger of young lions,
⁴⁰ when they crouch in their dens
    or lie in wait in the thicket?
⁴¹ Who arranges provision for the raven,
    when its young cry out to God,
and wander about for lack of food?