Job 38:4-15
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.(A)
5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone(B)
7 when the morning stars sang together
and all the heavenly beings[a] shouted for joy?(C)
8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb,(D)
9 when I made the clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling band,(E)
10 and prescribed bounds for it,
and set bars and doors,(F)
11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you come and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stopped’?(G)
12 “Have you commanded the morning since your days began
and caused the dawn to know its place,(H)
13 so that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
and the wicked be shaken out of it?(I)
14 It is changed like clay under the seal,
and it is dyed[b] like a garment.
15 Light is withheld from the wicked,
and their uplifted arm is broken.(J)
Job 38:4-15
International Standard Version
On the Natural World
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of my earth?
Tell me,[a] since you’re so informed!
5 Who set its measurement? Am I to assume you know?
Who stretched a boundary line over it?
6 On what were its bases set?
Who laid its corner stone
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the divine beings[b] shouted joyfully?
8 “Who[c] enclosed the sea with limits[d]
when it gushed out of the womb,
9 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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