² Eternal One: Who is this that darkens counsel,
        who covers over sound instruction with empty words void of knowledge?
³     Now, prepare yourself and gather your courage like a warrior.
        Prepare yourself for the task at hand.
    I’ll be asking the questions, now—
        you will supply the answers.
⁴     Where were you when I dug and laid the foundation of the earth?
        Explain it to me, if you are acquainted with understanding.
⁵     Who decided on the measurements? Surely you know that!
        Who stretched out a line to measure the dimensions?
⁶     Upon what base was the foundation set?
        Or who laid the cornerstone
⁷     On the day when the stars of the morning broke out in song
        and God’s heavenly throng, elated, shouted along?

⁸     Who held back the sea behind doors
        and brought the earth bursting forth from the womb of the deep,
⁹     When for clothes I gave it a cloud
        and for swaddling I wrapped it in darkness,
¹⁰     When I placed shores around its limits
        and put up the doors and the bars;
¹¹     And I said to the sea, “Here you may come, but no farther.
        And here is the shore where your grand waves will crash.”

¹²     In your short run of days, have you ever commanded the morning to begin
        or taught the sun to rise in its place?
¹³     Under your watch has the early light ever taken hold of the earth by the edges
        and shaken the wicked loose?
¹⁴     Under dawn’s early light the earth takes shape
        as does clay when a seal is firmly pressed in it;
    Its colors and features stand out
        as a well-made garment does from the body.
¹⁵     Yet the light is withheld from the wicked,
        and the arm is snapped off of the oppressors.

¹⁶     Have you entered into the sea’s tidewaters
        or trod the bottom of the ocean looking for the deepest cavern?
¹⁷     Have you found it, only for death’s infamous gates to be unveiled to you,
        or did you catch a glimpse of the gates of the deep darkness beneath the waters?
¹⁸     Have you roamed the earth in her entirety, comprehended her vast regions?
        If you know all of this, declare it! Make your statement!

¹⁹     Tell me, which way is it to where the light resides?
        And darkness? Where does the darkness live?
²⁰     When you escort it through its regions every day,
        will you know the way to its home?
²¹     Ah, but of course you know!
        After all, you were born way back then when all this was created,
        and your days have been many indeed.

²²     Have you visited the vast, cold treasury where the snow is stored,
        or have you gazed on the shimmering, frozen armories where the hail is held,
²³     The hail which I keep on reserve for the time of great trouble,
        for the day of battle, the day of war?
²⁴     Where is the way to the realm where light is scattered across creation,
        and where is the field where the east wind is divided up
        and sent across the face of the earth?

²⁵     Who cut the channel for the flooding rivers
        or paved a path for the thunderbolt
²⁶     So that rain might fall on an uninhabited land,
        even on a wilderness where no human sets foot
²⁷     So that the desolate desert and the withering wasteland are satisfied,
        so that the grass is made to sprout in that seemingly forsaken place?
²⁸     And does the rain have a father?
        Who sires the drops of dew?
²⁹     From whose womb comes the ice?
        And who gives birth to the sky’s pale, thick frost?
³⁰     When water seems to turn to stone,
        the face of the deep freezes to imprison its inhabitants.

³¹     Can you bind together a cluster of twinkling stars—
        the seven sisters of Pleiades who keep company in the night sky?
        Can you loosen the cords of Orion’s bow?
³²     Can you lead the stars^[a] of the Zodiac out in their proper seasons
        and guide the Bear with her cubs?
³³     Do you know the rules of the heavens,
        or apportion their influence on the seasons of the earth?

³⁴     Can you bellow out orders at the clouds
        and pull down a flood of rain around you?
³⁵     Can you dispatch bolts of lightning on their way,
        who instantly obey and say to you, “Here we are”?
³⁶     Who put wisdom within the center of the created
        or granted understanding to the mind?^[b]
37     Who has the wisdom to count the clouds and send them on their way
        or tip over the water skins of heaven to refresh the ground below
³⁸     When the dry dust is as hard as metal
        and clods of clay clump together?

³⁹     Can you hunt prey for the lioness
        or sate the appetites of her cubs
⁴⁰     While they crouch in their dens
        and wait in the brush?
⁴¹     Who nourishes the hungry raven
        when its young chirp to God and wander for want of food?

39 Eternal One: Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth?
        Do you attend at the doe’s delivery?
²     Can you keep track of the months until each carries to term?
        Do you even know their calving season?
³     They drop to their knees to birth their young,
        and their labor pains cease to grip.
⁴     Their offspring grow to their full strength in the open field;
        then they leave and do not return.

⁵     Who set the wild donkey free?
        Who cut it loose from its bonds?
⁶     I gave it the wastelands for a home
        and the salt flats for a dwelling.
⁷     It avoids the commotion of the city;
        it is far from the shouts of the mule driver and never has to obey one.
⁸     Instead, it trundles through hills in search of pasture,
        its eyes ever watchful for a patch of green.
⁹     Is the wild ox willing to serve you?
        Will it be content to stay the night beside your feeding trough?
¹⁰     Can you confine the wild ox with a rope to plow a straight furrow?
        Will it cultivate the valleys as you pull him along?
¹¹     Can you trust it simply because of its enormous strength?
        Can you really leave your work to it without guiding it?
¹²     Can you depend on it to return the remaining seed to you,
        to carry the grain to your threshing floor?

¹³     The ostrich flaps her wings,
        and the ringing joy is heard.
        But her wings and pinions are not like a stork’s. She cannot fly.
¹⁴     She is different from other birds,
        for she lays her eggs straight on the ground,
        and she incubates them in the bare dust.
¹⁵     She forgets that a foot might crush them
        or a wild animal trample them.
¹⁶     She is harsh to her young, as if they were not even hers.
        She is unconcerned at the futility of her labor,
¹⁷     For God denied her a share of wisdom,
        and in doling out understanding, He passed her by.
¹⁸     Oh and yet, look at her when the time comes to run—
        she spreads her strange wings and laughs at the horse who must be guided by his rider
        although she is an absurd bird who can’t even fly.

¹⁹     And oh, of course—now let us speak of the horse!
        Do you give that creature its power?
        Do you adorn its neck with that flowing mane?
²⁰     Do you make it leap like a locust
        and terrify the enemy with its dreadful snorting?
²¹     It paws and stamps the valley ground, prancing and gloating at its strength;
        and it greets the battle with a charge.
²²     It laughs at fear, is a stranger to panic,
        and will not turn away from any oncoming blade.
²³     Though the quiver’s arrows rattle at its side,
        though the spear and lance flash in its eyes,
²⁴     It is a storm and a fury devouring the ground ahead,
        set off by the blast of the trumpet, unable to stand still.
²⁵     Stirred by the trumpet sound to charge,
        the horse responds with its own blast
        and smells the blood of battle from a distance,
        amid commands barked by officers and shouts of alarm.

²⁶     Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom,
        stretching its wings toward the south?
²⁷     Does the eagle take flight at your command,
        or build its nest in the towering heights?
²⁸     On jutting cliffs it lives and keeps the night;
        on rocky crags it builds its mountain stronghold.
²⁹     From there it spies its prey;
        its keen eyes discover its victim still far off.
³⁰     Its young ones feast on blood,
        and wherever the slain lie, there it is.

² Eternal One: Have you heard enough?
        Will the one who finds fault with the Highest One^[c] now make his case?
        Let God’s accuser answer Him!

⁴ Job: Oh, I am so small. How can I reply to You?
        I’ll cover my mouth with my hand, for I’ve already said too much.
⁵     One time I have spoken, and I have no answer to give—
        two times, and I have nothing more to add.