Job 38:4-15

New International Reader's Version

⁴ “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
    Tell me, if you know.
⁵ Who measured it? I am sure you know!
    Who stretched a measuring line across it?
⁶ What was it built on?
    Who laid its most important stone?
⁷ When it happened, the morning stars sang together.
    All the angels shouted with joy.

⁸ “Who created the ocean?
    Who caused it to be born?
⁹ I put clouds over it as if they were its clothes.
    I wrapped it in thick darkness.
¹⁰ I set limits for it.
    I put its doors and metal bars in place.
¹¹ I said, ‘You can come this far.
    But you can’t come any farther.
    Here is where your proud waves have to stop.’

¹² “Job, have you ever commanded the morning to come?
    Have you ever shown the sun where to rise?
¹³ The daylight takes the earth by its edges
    as if it were a blanket.
    Then it shakes sinful people out of it.
¹⁴ The earth takes shape like clay stamped with an official’s mark.
    Its features stand out
    like the different parts of your clothes.
¹⁵ Sinners would rather have darkness than light.
    When the light comes, their power is broken.