Beginning

38 Then Hashem answered Iyov out of the whirlwind, and said,

² Who is this that darkeneth etzah (counsel) with words without da’as?

³ Gird up now thy loins like a gever; for I will ask of thee, and thou wilt answer Me.

⁴ Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of eretz? Tell, if thou hast binah.

⁵ Who hath drafted the dimensions thereof, if thou hast da’as? Or who hath stretched a measuring line across it?

⁶ Whereupon are the foundations thereof set? Or who laid the even-pinnah (cornerstone) thereof

⁷ When the kokhvei boker sang together, and all the Bnei Elohim shouted for joy?

⁸ Or who shut up the yam behind doors? Who brought it forth, issuing out of the rekhem (womb)

⁹ When I made the anan the garment thereof, and thick darkness its swaddling band,

¹⁰ And fixed bounds for it, and set bars and dlatot (doors),

¹¹ And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and poh (here) shall thy proud waves be stopped?

¹² Hast thou commanded the boker since thy yamim began; or caused the shachar (dawn) to know its place;

¹³ That it might seize the ends of ha’aretz, that the resha’im be shaken out of it?

¹⁴ It is changed like chomer (clay) under the khotam (seal); and they stand out like a garment.

¹⁵ And from the resha’im their ohr is denied, and the upraised zero’a shall be broken.

¹⁶ Hast thou entered into the springs of the yam? Or hast thou walked in the recesses of the tehom?

¹⁷ Have the sha’arei mavet been disclosed unto thee? Or hast thou seen the sha’arei tzalmavet?

¹⁸ Hast thou perceived the expanse of eretz? Tell Me if thou hast da’as of it all.

¹⁹ Where is the derech where ohr dwelleth? And as for choshech, where is the place thereof,

²⁰ That thou shouldest take it to its border, and that thou shouldest have da’as of the paths to its bais?

²¹ Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? Or because the mispar of thy yamim is so great?

²² Hast thou entered into the otzrot (storehouses) of the snow? Or hast thou seen the otzrot of barad (hail),

²³ Which I have reserved for the time of tzar, for the yom kerav (battle) and milchamah (war)?

²⁴ Which is the derech where the ohr is distributed, where is scattered the east wind upon eretz?

²⁵ Who hath cut a channel for the overflowing of waters, or a derech for the lightning of thunder,

²⁶ To cause it to rain on eretz, where lo ish is; on midbar, wherein there is lo adam;

²⁷ To saturate a desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the desheh to spring forth?

²⁸ Hath the rain an av? Or who hath begotten the drops of tal (dew)?

²⁹ Out of whose beten cometh the ice? And the frost of Shomayim, who giveth birth to it?

³⁰ The mayim harden like even (stone), and the face of tehom is frozen.

³¹ Canst thou bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loose the bonds of Orion?

³² Canst thou bring forth Mazzarot in their times? Or canst thou guide the Bear with its banim?

³³ Knowest thou the chukkot of Shomayim? Canst thou set the rule over ha’aretz?

³⁴ Canst thou lift up thy kol (voice) to the clouds, that abundance of mayim may cover thee?

³⁵ Canst thou send lightning bolts, that they may go and say unto thee, Hineinu (here we are)?

³⁶ Who hath put chochmah in the inward parts, or who hath given binah to the mind?

³⁷ Who can number the clouds in chochmah, or who can tip the waterskins of Shomayim,

³⁸ When the dust hardens into a clump, and the clods cleave fast together?

³⁹ Wilt thou hunt the teref for the lioness, or fill the appetite of her whelps,

⁴⁰ When they crouch in their me’onot (dens), and abide in the lair to lie in ambush?

⁴¹ Who provideth for the raven his food? When his young ones cry unto El, they wander about for lack of okhel.

39 Dost thou have da’as of the et (time) when the mountain goats give birth, or art thou shomer to watch when the doe bears her fawn?

² Canst thou number the months that they fulfil, or dost thou have da’as of the et (time) when they give birth?

³ They crouch down, they bring forth their yeledim, their chavalim (birth pains) are cast off in riddance.

⁴ Their banim gain strength, they grow up in the bar (open, wild); they go forth, and return not unto them.

⁵ Who hath sent out the pere (wild donkey) free, or who hath untied the ropes of the arod (wild donkey, onager),

⁶ Whose bais I have made the aravah, and the barren land his mishkenot (dwellings)?

⁷ He laughs at the tumult of the kiryah (city), neither regardeth he the shouts of the driver.

⁸ The range of the harim is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing.

⁹ Will the wild ox be willing to be thy eved, or stay the night by thy evus (animal feeding trough)?

¹⁰ Canst thou bind the wild ox to the furrow with a rope, or will it behind thee till the amakim (valleys)?

¹¹ Wilt thou depend on him, because his ko’ach is great, or wilt thou hand over thy heavy work to him?

¹² Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring in thy zera (grain), and gather it into thy goren (threshing floor)?

¹³ Joyfully flapping are the wings of the ostrich, but are her wings and feathers like the khasidah (stork)?

¹⁴ For the ostrich layeth her betzim (eggs) la’aretz (on the ground), and warmeth them in the sand,

¹⁵ And forgetteth that the regel may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them.

¹⁶ She treats harshly her banim, as though they were not hers; though her labor should be in vain, yet she is without pachad (fear, care),

¹⁷ Because Elo’ah hath deprived her of chochmah, neither hath he imparted to her binah.

¹⁸ Yet at the et (time) she flaps her wings [to run], she laughs at the sus and his rider.

¹⁹ Hast thou given the sus gevurah? Hast thou clothed his neck with a flowing mane?

²⁰ Canst thou make him leap like an arbeh (locust)? The hod (glory) of his snorting strikes terror.

²¹ He paweth in the emek (valley), and rejoiceth in his koach; he chargeth into the fray.

²² He laugheth at pachad, and nothing fears; neither turneth he back from the cherev.

²³ The quiver rattleth at his side, the glittering spear and the kidon (scimitar, curved sword).

²⁴ He eats up the eretz with fierceness and rogez (rage); neither standeth he still at the sound of the shofar.

²⁵ As often as the shofar, he snorts Aha! and he smelleth the milchamah afar off, the shout of the sarim, and the teru’ah (battle cry).

²⁶ Doth the hawk fly by thy binah, and stretch her wings toward the south?

²⁷ Doth the nesher (eagle) mount up at thy command, and make her ken (nest) on high?

²⁸ She dwelleth and abideth on the cliff, upon the crag of the rock, its metzudah (stronghold).

²⁹ From there she seeketh the okhel (food, prey), and her eyes behold it from afar off.

³⁰ Her young ones feast on dahm; and where the chalalim (slain ones) are, there it is.