Where were you when I established(A) the earth?
Tell Me, if you have[a] understanding.
Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
What supports its foundations?
Or who laid its cornerstone
while the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God(B) shouted for joy?

Who enclosed the sea behind doors
when it burst from the womb,
when I made the clouds its garment
and thick darkness its blanket,[b](C)
10 when I determined its boundaries[c]
and put its bars and doors in place,
11 when I declared: “You may come this far, but no farther;
your proud waves stop here”?

12 Have you ever in your life commanded the morning
or assigned the dawn its place,
13 so it may seize the edges of the earth
and shake the wicked out of it?
14 The earth is changed as clay is by a seal;
its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.
15 Light[d] is withheld from the wicked,
and the arm raised in violence is broken.

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Footnotes

  1. Job 38:4 Lit know
  2. Job 38:9 Lit swaddling clothes
  3. Job 38:10 Lit I broke My statute on it
  4. Job 38:15 Lit Their light

The establishing of order

Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations?
    Tell me if you know.
Who set its measurements? Surely you know.
    Who stretched a measuring tape on it?
On what were its footings sunk;
    who laid its cornerstone,
    while the morning stars sang in unison
        and all the divine beings shouted?
Who enclosed the Sea[a] behind doors
    when it burst forth from the womb,
    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.

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Footnotes

  1. Job 38:8 Heb Yam, a sea god
  2. Job 38:10 Heb uncertain