Job 38

Modern English Version

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?