VIII. The Lord and Job Meet
Chapter 38
1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm and said:
2 Who is this who darkens counsel
with words of ignorance?
3 Gird up your loins now, like a man;
I will question you, and you tell me the answers!(A)
4 Where were you when I founded the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its size? Surely you know?
Who stretched out the measuring line for it?
6 Into what were its pedestals sunk,
and who laid its cornerstone,
7 While the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 Who shut within doors the sea,
when it burst forth from the womb,(B)
9 When I made the clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling bands?
10 When I set limits for it
and fastened the bar of its door,
11 And said: Thus far shall you come but no farther,
and here shall your proud waves stop?
12 Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning
and shown the dawn its place
13 For taking hold of the ends of the earth,
till the wicked are shaken from it?
14 The earth is changed as clay by the seal,
and dyed like a garment;
15 But from the wicked their light is withheld,
and the arm of pride is shattered.
16 Have you entered into the sources of the sea,
or walked about on the bottom of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been shown to you,
or have you seen the gates of darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth?
Tell me, if you know it all.
19 What is the way to the dwelling of light,
and darkness—where is its place?
20 That you may take it to its territory
and know the paths to its home?
21 You know, because you were born then,
and the number of your days is great!
22 Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
and seen the storehouses of the hail
23 Which I have reserved for times of distress,
for a day of war and battle?(C)
24 What is the way to the parting of the winds,
where the east wind spreads over the earth?
25 Who has laid out a channel for the downpour
and a path for the thunderstorm
26 To bring rain to uninhabited land,
the unpeopled wilderness;
27 To drench the desolate wasteland
till the desert blooms with verdure?
28 Has the rain a father?
Who has begotten the drops of dew?
29 Out of whose womb comes the ice,
and who gives the hoarfrost its birth in the skies,
30 When the waters lie covered as though with stone
that holds captive the surface of the deep?
31 Have you tied cords to the Pleiades,
or loosened the bonds of Orion?
32 Can you bring forth the Mazzaroth in their season,
or guide the Bear with her children?
33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens;
can you put into effect their plan on the earth?
34 Can you raise your voice to the clouds,
for them to cover you with a deluge of waters?
35 Can you send forth the lightnings on their way,
so that they say to you, “Here we are”?
36 Who gives wisdom to the ibis,
and gives the rooster understanding?
37 Who counts the clouds with wisdom?
Who tilts the water jars of heaven
38 So that the dust of earth is fused into a mass
and its clods stick together?
39 Do you hunt the prey for the lion
or appease the hunger of young lions,
40 While they crouch in their dens,
or lie in ambush in the thicket?
41 Who provides nourishment for the raven
when its young cry out to God,(D)
wandering about without food?
Footnotes
- 38:1
- 38:3
- 38:7
- 38:21
- 38:31–32
- 38:36
Cross references
- 38:3 : Jb 40:2.
- 38:8 : Gn 1:9.
- 38:23 : Jos 10:11; Sir 46:5.
- 38:41 : Ps 147:9.
