² “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?^(B)
3 Gird up your loins like a man;
    I will question you, and you shall declare to me.^(C)

⁴ “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
    Tell me, if you have understanding.^(D)
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^(E)
7 when the morning stars sang together
    and all the heavenly beings^[a] shouted for joy?^(F)

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

³⁴ “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
    so that a flood of waters may cover you?^(A)
35 Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go
    and say to you, ‘Here we are’?^(B)
36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts^[a]
    or given understanding to the mind?^[b](C)
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,^(D)
40 when they crouch in their dens
    or lie in wait in their covert?^(E)
41 Who provides for the raven its prey,
    when its young ones cry to God
    and wander about for lack of food?^(F)