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“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
    Declare, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measures, if you know?
    Or who stretched the line on it?
What were its foundations fastened on?
    Or who laid its cornerstone,
when the morning stars sang together,
    and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

“Or who shut up the sea with doors,
    when it broke out of the womb,
when I made clouds its garment,
    and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 marked out for it my bound,
    set bars and doors,
11 and said, ‘You may come here, but no further.
    Your proud waves shall be stopped here’?

12 “Have you commanded the morning in your days,
    and caused the dawn to know its place,
13 that it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
    and shake the wicked out of it?
14 It is changed as clay under the seal,
    and presented as a garment.
15 From the wicked, their light is withheld.
    The high arm is broken.

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“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
    Tell me, if you know so much.
Who determined its dimensions
    and stretched out the surveying line?
What supports its foundations,
    and who laid its cornerstone
as the morning stars sang together
    and all the angels[a] shouted for joy?

“Who kept the sea inside its boundaries
    as it burst from the womb,
and as I clothed it with clouds
    and wrapped it in thick darkness?
10 For I locked it behind barred gates,
    limiting its shores.
11 I said, ‘This far and no farther will you come.
    Here your proud waves must stop!’

12 “Have you ever commanded the morning to appear
    and caused the dawn to rise in the east?
13 Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth,
    to bring an end to the night’s wickedness?
14 As the light approaches,
    the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal;
    it is robed in brilliant colors.[b]
15 The light disturbs the wicked
    and stops the arm that is raised in violence.

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Footnotes

  1. 38:7 Hebrew the sons of God.
  2. 38:14 Or its features stand out like folds in a robe.