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

On the Natural World

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of my earth?
    Tell me,[a] since you’re so informed!
Who set its measurement? Am I to assume you know?
    Who stretched a boundary line over it?
On what were its bases set?
    Who laid its corner stone
while the morning stars sang together
    and all the divine beings[b] shouted joyfully?

“Who[c] enclosed the sea with limits[d]
    when it gushed out of the womb,
when I made clouds to be its clothes
    and thick darkness its swaddling blanket,
10 when I proscribed a boundary for it,
    set in place bars and doors for it;
11 and said, ‘You may come only this far and no more.
    Your majestic waves will stop here.’?

12 “Have you ever commanded the morning at any time during your life?[e]
    Do you know where the dawn lives,
13 where it seizes the edge of the earth
    and shakes the wicked out of it?
14 Like clay is molded by a signet ring,
    the earth’s hills and valleys[f] then stand out
        like the colors of a garment.
15 Then from the wicked their light is withheld
    and their upraised arm is broken.

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Footnotes

  1. Job 38:4 Or declare
  2. Job 38:7 Lit. sons of God
  3. Job 38:8 Lit. and he
  4. Job 38:8 Lit. doors
  5. Job 38:12 Lit. morning in your days
  6. Job 38:14 The Heb. lacks the earth’s hills and valleys