Beginning

² “Who is this who darkens counsel
    by words without knowledge?
³ Prepare yourself like a man;
    for I will question you,
    and you shall answer Me.

⁴ “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
    Declare, if you have understanding.
⁵ Who has determined its measurements, if you know?
    Or who has stretched the line upon it?
⁶ To what are its foundations fastened?
    Or who laid its cornerstone
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 broke forth and went out of the womb?
⁹ When I made the cloud its garment,
    and thick darkness its swaddling band,
¹⁰ and broke up for it My decreed place,
    and set bars and doors,
¹¹ and said, ‘This far you will come but no farther,
    and here your proud waves will be stopped’?

¹² “Have you commanded the morning in your days,
    and caused the dawn to know its 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 like clay by the seal,
    and it stands out as a garment.
¹⁵ From the wicked their light is withheld,
    and the high arm will be broken.

¹⁶ “Have you entered into the springs of the sea?
    Or have you walked in search of the depths?
¹⁷ Have the gates of death been opened to you?
    Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death?
¹⁸ Have you perceived the breadth of the earth?
    Declare, if you know it all.

¹⁹ “Where is the path where light dwells?
    And as for darkness, where is its place,
²⁰ that you should take it to its boundary,
    and that you should know the paths to its house?
²¹ Do you know it because you were born then,
    or because the number of your days is many?

²² “Have you entered the treasuries of the snow?
    Or have you seen the treasuries 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 diffused,
    or the east wind scattered upon the earth?
²⁵ Who has divided a channel for the overflowing waters,
    or a path for the thunderbolt,
²⁶ to cause it to rain on the earth where no man is,
    on the wilderness in which there are no people,
²⁷ to satisfy the desolate waste,
    and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?
²⁸ Does the rain have a father?
    Or who has produced the drops of dew?
²⁹ From whose womb came the ice?
    And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth?
³⁰ The waters harden like stone,
    and the surface of the deep is frozen.

³¹ “Can you tie the cords to the Pleiades
    or loosen the belt of Orion?
³² Can you bring out the constellation in its season?
    Or can you guide the Bear with its cubs?
³³ Do you know the ordinances of heaven?
    Can you set their dominion over the earth?

³⁴ “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
    that abundance of waters may cover you?
³⁵ Can you send lightning that they may go forth
    and say to you, ‘Here we are’?
³⁶ Who has put wisdom in the inward parts,
    or who has given understanding to the heart?^[a]
37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom?
    Or who can empty out the bottles of heaven,
³⁸ when the dust turns into hard clumps
    and the clods stick together?

³⁹ “Will you hunt the prey for the lion?
    Or fill the appetite of the young lions,
⁴⁰ when they crouch in their dens
    and lie in the thicket to wait in ambush?
⁴¹ Who provides for the raven his food
    when his young ones cry unto God,
    and they wander about for lack of food?

39 “Do you know the time when the wild mountain goats produce offspring?
    Or can you observe when the deer gives birth?
² Can you number the months that they fulfill,
    or do you know the time when they bring forth?
³ They bow themselves, they bring forth their young ones,
    they get rid of their labor pains.
⁴ Their young ones are healthy, they grow strong with grain;
    they go forth and do not return to them.

⁵ “Who has sent out the wild donkey free?
    Or who has loosed the bands of the wild donkey,
⁶ whose home I have made the wilderness,
    and the barren land his dwelling?
⁷ He scorns the multitude in the city
    and does not regard the shouts of the driver.
⁸ The range of the mountains is his pasture,
    and he searches after every green thing.

⁹ “Will the wild ox be willing to serve you
    or spend the night by your manger?
¹⁰ Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with ropes?
    Or will he plow the valleys behind you?
¹¹ Will you trust him because his strength is great?
    Or will you leave your labor to him?
¹² Will you trust him to bring home your grain
    and gather it into your barn?

¹³ “Did you give the beautiful wings to the peacocks?
    Or wings and feathers to the ostrich,
¹⁴ who leaves her eggs in the earth,
    and warms them in dust,
¹⁵ and forgets that a 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 hers;
    her labor is in vain, without concern,
¹⁷ because God has deprived her of wisdom,
    nor has He imparted understanding to her.
¹⁸ When she lifts up herself on high,
    she scorns the horse and his rider.

¹⁹ “Have you given the horse strength?
    Have you clothed his neck with thunder?
²⁰ Can you make him afraid like a grasshopper?
    The glory of his nostrils is awesome.
²¹ He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength;
    he goes on to meet the armed men.
²² He mocks at fear and is not frightened,
    nor does he turn back from the sword.
²³ The quiver rattles against him,
    the glittering spear and the shield.
²⁴ He devours the distance with fierceness and rage,
    and he does not stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
²⁵ At the sound of the trumpet he says, ‘Aha’;
    he smells the battle afar off,
    the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

²⁶ “Does the hawk fly by your wisdom,
    and stretch her wings toward the south?
²⁷ Does the eagle mount up at your command
    and make her nest on high?
²⁸ She dwells and remains on the rock,
    upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place.
²⁹ From there she seeks the prey,
    and her eyes see it from afar.
³⁰ Her young ones also suck up blood,
    and where the slain are, there she is.”