【Job】Chapter 38 << Last Chapter Next Chapter >>

38:1 Then the LORD addressed Job out of the storm and said:

38:2 Who is this that obscures divine plans with words of ignorance?

38:3 Gird up your loins now, like a man; I will question you, and you tell me the answers!

38:4 Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

38:5 Who determined its size; do you know? Who stretched out the measuring line for it?

38:6 Into what were its pedestals sunk, and who laid the cornerstone,

38:7 While the morning stars sang in chorus and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

38:8 And who shut within doors the sea, when it burst forth from the womb;

38:9 When I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling bands?

38:10 When I set limits for it and fastened the bar of its door,

38:11 And said: Thus far shall you come but no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stilled!

38:12 Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning and shown the dawn its place

38:13 For taking hold of the ends of the earth, till the wicked are shaken from its surface?

38:14 The earth is changed as is clay by the seal, and dyed as though it were a garment;

38:15 But from the wicked the light is withheld, and the arm of pride is shattered.

38:16 Have you entered into the sources of the sea, or walked about in the depths of the abyss?

38:17 Have the gates of death been shown to you, or have you seen the gates of darkness?

38:18 Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell me, if you know all:

38:19 Which is the way to the dwelling place of light, and where is the abode of darkness,

38:20 That you may take them to their boundaries and set them on their homeward paths?

38:21 You know, because you were born before them, and the number of your years is great!

38:22 Have you entered the storehouse of the snow, and seen the treasury of the hail

38:23 Which I have reserved for times of stress, for the days of war and of battle?

38:24 Which way to the parting of the winds, whence the east wind spreads over the earth?

38:25 Who has laid out a channel for the downpour and for the thunderstorm a path

38:26 To bring rain to no man’s land, the unpeopled wilderness;

38:27 To enrich the waste and desolate ground till the desert blooms with verdure?

38:28 Has the rain a father; or who has begotten the drops of dew?

38:29 Out of whose womb comes the ice, and who gives the hoarfrost its birth in the skies,

38:30 When the waters lie covered as though with stone that holds captive the surface of the deep?

38:31 Have you fitted a curb to the Pleiades, or loosened the bonds of Orion?

38:32 Can you bring forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or guide the Bear with its train?

38:33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens; can you put into effect their plan on the earth?

38:34 Can you raise your voice among the clouds, or veil yourself in the waters of the storm?

38:35 Can you send forth the lightnings on their way, or will they say to you, "Here we are"?

38:36 Who puts wisdom in the heart, and gives the cock its understanding?

38:37 Who counts the clouds in his wisdom? Or who tilts the water jars of heaven

38:38 So that the dust of earth is fused into a mass and its clods made solid?

38:39 Do you hunt the prey for the lioness or appease the hunger of her cubs,

38:40 While they crouch in their dens, or lie in wait in the thicket?

38:41 Who provides nourishment for the ravens when their young ones cry out to God, and they rove abroad without food?

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