Job 38
Common English Bible
The Lord answers from a whirlwind
38 Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:
2 Who is this darkening counsel
with words lacking knowledge?
3 Prepare yourself like a man;
I will interrogate you, and you will respond to me.
The establishing of order
4 Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations?
Tell me if you know.
5 Who set its measurements? Surely you know.
Who stretched a measuring tape on it?
6 On what were its footings sunk;
who laid its cornerstone,
7 while the morning stars sang in unison
and all the divine beings shouted?
8 Who enclosed the Sea[a] behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment,
the dense clouds its wrap,
10 when I imposed[b] my limit for it,
put on a bar and doors
11 and said, “You may come this far, no farther;
here your proud waves stop”?
12 In your lifetime have you commanded the morning,
informed the dawn of its place
13 so it would take hold of earth by its edges
and shake the wicked out of it?
14 Do you turn it over like clay for a seal,
so it stands out like a colorful garment?
15 Light is withheld from the wicked,
the uplifted arm broken.
The vast beyond
16 Have you gone to the sea’s sources,
walked in the chamber of the deep?
17 Have death’s gates been revealed to you;
can you see the gates of deep darkness?
18 Have you surveyed earth’s expanses?
Tell me if you know everything about it.
19 Where’s the road to the place where light dwells;
darkness, where’s it located?
20 Can you take it to its territory;
do you know the paths to its house?
21 You know, for you were born then;
you have lived such a long time![c]
22 Have you gone to snow’s storehouses,
seen the storehouses of hail
23 that I have reserved for a time of distress,
for a day of battle and war?
24 What is the way to the place where light is divided up;
the east wind scattered over earth?
Meteorological facts
25 Who cut a channel for the downpours
and a way for blasts of thunder
26 to bring water to uninhabited land,
a desert with no human
27 to saturate dry wasteland
and make grass sprout?
28 Has the rain a father
who brought forth drops of dew?
29 From whose belly does ice come;
who gave birth to heaven’s frost?
30 Water hardens like stone;
the surface of the deep thickens.
31 Can you bind Pleiades’ chains
or loosen the reins of Orion?
32 Can you guide the stars
at their proper times,
lead the Bear with her cubs?
33 Do you know heaven’s laws,
or can you impose its rule on earth?
34 Can you issue an order to the clouds
so their abundant waters cover you?
35 Can you send lightning so that it goes
and then says to you, “I’m here”?
36 Who put wisdom in remote places,
or who gave understanding to a rooster?[d]
37 Who is wise enough to count the clouds,
and who can tilt heaven’s water containers
38 so that dust becomes mud
and clods of dirt adhere?
Lion and raven
39 Can you hunt prey for the lion
or fill the cravings of lion cubs?
40 They lie in their den,
lie in ambush in their lair.
41 Who provides food for the raven
when its young cry to God,
move about without food?
Job 38
Jubilee Bible 2000
38 ¶ Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
2 Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Now gird up thy loins like a man; for I will enquire of thee, and answer thou me.
4 ¶ Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Cause me to know, if thou hast understanding.
5 Who ordered its dimensions, if thou knowest? Or who has stretched the line upon it?
6 Upon what are its foundations founded? Or who laid its corner stone;
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 broke forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
9 When I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness a swaddling band for it,
10 and established my decree upon it, and set bars and doors,
11 and said, Thou shalt come unto here, but no further; and there shall the pride of thy waves be stayed.
12 ¶ Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days? Hast thou shown the dayspring its 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 transformed as clay to the seal and then stands as a garment;
15 but the light of the wicked is taken from them, and the high arm is broken.
16 Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? Or hast thou walked searching out the deep?
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 to the habitation of the light, and where is the place of the darkness?
20 If thou shalt take it in its borders, and if thou should understand the paths to its house?
21 If thou didst know when thou wast to be born or if the number of thy days was to be great?
22 Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow, and 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 divided; from where is the east wind scattered upon the earth?
25 ¶ Who has 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, in which 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 Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of the dew?
29 Out of whose womb came the ice, and the hoary frost of heaven, who has begotten it?
30 The waters harden as 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 the signs of the heavens in their season, or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
33 Dost thou know the ordinances of the heavens? Canst thou use its power 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 put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who gave intelligence to understanding?
37 Who declared the heavens in wisdom? Or who can stay the bottles of heaven
38 when the dust hardens 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 crouch in their dens and abide in their lairs to lie in wait?
41 Who provided food for the raven; when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of food?
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
Copyright © 2013, 2020 by Ransom Press International