⁷ “Are you the firstborn of the human race?
    Were you brought forth before the hills?^(A)

⁴ “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
    Tell me, if you have understanding.^(A)
5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
    Or who stretched the line upon it?
⁶ On what were its bases sunk,
    or who laid its cornerstone^(B)
7 when the morning stars sang together
    and all the heavenly beings^[a] shouted for joy?^(C)

⁸ “Or who shut in the sea with doors
    when it burst out from the womb,^(D)
9 when I made the clouds its garment
    and thick darkness its swaddling band,^(E)
10 and prescribed bounds for it,
    and set bars and doors,^(F)
11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you come and no farther,
    and here shall your proud waves be stopped’?^(G)

¹² “Have you commanded the morning since your days began
    and caused the dawn to know its place,^(H)
13 so that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
    and the wicked be shaken out of it?^(I)
14 It is changed like clay under the seal,
    and it is dyed^[b] like a garment.
¹⁵ Light is withheld from the wicked,
    and their uplifted arm is broken.^(J)

¹⁶ “Have you entered into the springs of the sea
    or walked in the recesses of the deep?^(K)
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
    or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?^(L)
18 Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
    Declare, if you know all this.^(M)

¹⁹ “Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
    and where is the place of darkness,
²⁰ that you may take it to its territory
    and that you may discern the paths to its home?^(N)
21 Surely you know, for you were born then,
    and the number of your days is great!^(O)

²² “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
    or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,^(P)
23 which I have reserved for the time of trouble,
    for the day of battle and war?^(Q)
24 What is the way to the place where the light is distributed
    or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?^(R)

²⁵ “Who has cut a channel for the torrents of rain
    and a way for the thunderbolt,^(S)
26 to bring rain on a land where no one lives,
    on the desert, which is empty of human life,^(T)
27 to satisfy the waste and desolate land,
    and to make the ground put forth grass?^(U)

²⁸ “Has the rain a father,
    or who has fathered the drops of dew?^(V)
29 From whose womb did the ice come forth,
    and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven?^(W)
30 The waters become hard like stone,
    and the face of the deep is frozen.

³¹ “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades
    or loose the cords of Orion?^(X)
32 Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season,
    or can you guide the Bear with its children?
³³ Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
    Can you establish their rule on the earth?^(Y)

³⁴ “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
    so that a flood of waters may cover you?^(Z)
35 Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go
    and say to you, ‘Here we are’?^(AA)
36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts^[c]
    or given understanding to the mind?^[d](AB)
37 Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?
    Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens
³⁸ when the dust runs into a mass
    and the clods cling together?

³⁹ “Can you hunt the prey for the lion
    or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,^(AC)
40 when they crouch in their dens
    or lie in wait in their covert?^(AD)
41 Who provides for the raven its prey,
    when its young ones cry to God
    and wander about for lack of food?^(AE)