Job 38-39
Lexham English Bible
Yahweh Challenges Job
38 Then[a] Yahweh answered Job from the storm, and he said,
2 “Who is this darkening counsel
by words without knowledge?
3 Prepare yourself for a difficult task like a man,[b]
and I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
Yahweh Interrogates Job
4 “Where were you at my laying the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you possess understanding.
5 Who determined its measurement? Yes, you do know.
Or who stretched the measuring line upon it?
6 On what were its bases sunk?
Or who laid its cornerstone,
7 when the morning stars were singing together
and all the sons of God[c] shouted for joy?
8 “Or who shut the sea in with doors
at its bursting, when it went out of the womb,
9 at my making the clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
10 and I prescribed my rule for it,
and I set bars and doors,
11 and I said, ‘You shall come up to here, but[d] you shall not go further,
and here it will set a boundary for your proud surging waves’?[e]
12 “Have you ever in your life[f] commanded the morning?
Have you made the dawn know its place,
13 to take hold of the earth’s skirts
so that[g] the wicked might be shaken off from it?
14 It is changed like clay under a seal,
and they appear like a garment.
15 And their light is withheld from the wicked,
and their uplifted arm is broken.
16 “Have you entered into the sea’s sources?
Or have you walked around in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you?
Or have you seen the gates of deep shadow?
18 Have you considered closely the earth’s vast expanse?
Declare it, if you know all of it.
19 “Where then[h] is the way where the light dwells?
And where then[i] is its place,
20 that you may take it to its territory,
and that you might discern the paths to its home?
21 You know, for you were born then,
and the number of your days is great.
22 Have you entered into the storehouses of the snow,
or[j] have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I have reserved for the time of trouble,
for the day of battle and war?
24 Where then[k] is the way where the light is distributed,
where he scatters the east wind upon the earth?
25 “Who has cut open a channel for the torrents
and a way for the thunder bolts,[l]
26 to bring rain on a land where no one lives,[m]
a desert where no humans live,[n]
27 to satisfy desert and wasteland,
and to cause the ground to put forth the rising of grass?
28 Is there a father for the rain,
or who fathered the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb did the ice come forth,
and who fathered the frost of heaven?
30 Like stone the waters become hard,
and the faces of the deep freeze.
31 “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades,
or can you loosen the cords of Orion?
32 Can you lead forth the southern constellations at their appointed time,
or[o] can you lead the Bear with its children?
33 Do you know heaven’s statutes,
or can you establish their rule on the earth?
34 Can you lift up your voice to the clouds
so that[p] a flood of water may cover you?
35 Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go?
And will they say to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 Who has put wisdom in the ibis,[q]
or who has given understanding to the rooster?[r]
37 Who can number the clouds with wisdom?
Or[s] who can tilt heaven’s jars,
38 at the flowing of the dust into a cast
and the clods cling together?
39 “Can you hunt prey for the lion?
And can you satisfy the hunger of strong lions
40 when they are crouched in the dens,
when they lie in the thicket in an ambush?
41 Who prepares for the crow its prey,
when its young ones cry to God for help,
and they wander around for lack of food?[t]
39 “Do you know the time when the goats of the rocks give birth?
Do you observe the doe deer’s giving birth?
2 Can you number the months they fulfill,
and do you know the time of its giving birth?
3 When they crouch, they bring forth their young ones;
they get rid of their labor pains.[u]
4 Their young ones grow strong; they grow up in the open;
they go forth and do not return to them.
5 “Who has sent forth the wild ass free?
And who has released the wild donkey’s bonds,
6 to which I have given the wilderness as its house
and the salt flat as its dwelling place?
7 It scorns the city’s turmoil;
it does not hear the driver’s shouts.
8 It explores the mountains as its pasture
and searches after every kind of green plant.
9 “Is the wild ox willing to serve you,
or will he spend the night at your feeding trough?
10 Can you tie the wild ox with its rope to a furrow,
or will it harrow the valleys after you?
11 Can you trust it because its strength is great,
or will you hand your labor over to it?
12 Can you rely on it that it will return your grain
and that it will gather it to your threshing floor?
13 “The wings[v] of the female ostrich flap[w]—
are they[x] the pinions of the stork or[y] the falcon?
14 Indeed, it leaves its eggs to the earth,
and it lets them be warmed on the ground,
15 and it forgets that a foot might crush an egg,[z]
and a wild animal[aa] might trample it.[ab]
16 It deals cruelly with its young ones, as if they were not its own,
as if without fear that its labor were in vain,
17 because God made it forget wisdom,
and he did not give it a share in understanding.
18 When it spreads its wings aloft,[ac]
it laughs at the horse and its rider.
19 “Do you give power to the horse?
Do you clothe its neck with a mane?
20 Do you make it leap like the locust?
The majesty of its snorting is terrifying.
21 They paw in the valley, and it exults with strength;
it goes out to meet the battle.
22 It laughs at danger and is not dismayed,
and it does not turn back from before[ad] the sword.
23 Upon it the quiver rattles
along with the flash of the spear and the short sword.
24 With roar and rage it races over the ground,[ae]
and it cannot stand still at the sound of the horn.
25 Whenever[af] a horn sounds, it says, ‘Aha!’
And it smells the battle from a distance—
the thunder of the commanders and the war cry.
26 “Does the hawk soar by your wisdom?
Does it spread its wings to the south?
27 Or does the eagle fly high at your command
and construct its nest high?
28 It lives on the rock and spends the night
on the rock point and the mountain stronghold.[ag]
29 From there it spies out the prey;
its eyes look from far away.
30 And its young ones lick blood greedily,
and where the dead carcasses are, there they are.”
Footnotes
- Job 38:1 Hebrew “And”
- Job 38:3 Literally “Gird up like a man your loins”
- Job 38:7 Or “heavenly beings”
- Job 38:11 Hebrew “and”
- Job 38:11 Literally “for the pride of your surging waves”
- Job 38:12 Literally “from your days”
- Job 38:13 Hebrew “and”
- Job 38:19 Or “Where exactly”
- Job 38:19 Or “where exactly”
- Job 38:22 Hebrew “and”
- Job 38:24 Or “Where exactly”
- Job 38:25 Literally “bolt of thunders”
- Job 38:26 Literally “not a man”
- Job 38:26 Literally “not humans in it”
- Job 38:32 Hebrew “and”
- Job 38:34 Hebrew “and”
- Job 38:36 Or “inner parts”
- Job 38:36 Or “mind”
- Job 38:37 Hebrew “And”
- Job 38:41 Literally “for no food”
- Job 39:3 Or “deliver their fetuses”
- Job 39:13 Hebrew “wing”
- Job 39:13 Or “flaps”
- Job 39:13 Or “if,” or “or”
- Job 39:13 Hebrew “and”
- Job 39:15 Hebrew “it”; or a collective singular (“them”) referring to “eggs” in v. 14
- Job 39:15 Literally “an animal of the field”
- Job 39:15 Or a collective singular (“them”) referring to “eggs” in v. 14
- Job 39:18 Literally “in the height”
- Job 39:22 Literally “from faces of”
- Job 39:24 Or “it paws the ground”; literally “it swallows the earth/ground”
- Job 39:25 Literally “At enough”
- Job 39:28 Literally “on the tooth of the rock and the stronghold”
Job 38-39
King James Version
38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
2 Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
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 brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,
10 And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,
11 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
12 Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his 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 turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.
15 And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.
16 Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?
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 where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof,
20 That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?
21 Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great?
22 Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or 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 parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?
25 Who hath 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, wherein 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 Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
29 Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?
30 The waters are hid as with a 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 Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
33 Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof 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 hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?
37 Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven,
38 When the dust groweth into hardness, 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 couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait?
41 Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.
39 Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?
2 Canst thou number the months that they fulfil? or knowest thou the time when they bring forth?
3 They bow themselves, they bring forth their young ones, they cast out their sorrows.
4 Their young ones are in good liking, they grow up with corn; they go forth, and return not unto them.
5 Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass?
6 Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings.
7 He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver.
8 The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing.
9 Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?
10 Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?
11 Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him?
12 Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn?
13 Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich?
14 Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust,
15 And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them.
16 She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not her's: her labour is in vain without fear;
17 Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.
18 What time she lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider.
19 Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?
20 Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible.
21 He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men.
22 He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword.
23 The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield.
24 He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet.
25 He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
26 Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south?
27 Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high?
28 She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place.
29 From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off.
30 Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she.
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