- 1Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind,
- 2“Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
- 3Brace yourself like a man, for I will question you, then you answer me!
- 4“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding.
- 5Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it?
- 6Whereupon were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone,
- 7when 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 out of the womb,
- 9when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness,
- 10marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors,
- 11and said, ‘Here you may come, but no further. Here your proud waves shall be stayed?’
- 12“Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place;
- 13that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it?
- 14It is changed as clay under the seal, and presented as a garment.
- 15From the wicked, their light is withheld. The high arm is broken.
- 16“Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?
- 17Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
- 18Have you comprehended the earth in its breadth? Declare, if you know it all.
- 19“What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place,
- 20that you should take it to its bound, that you should discern the paths to its house?
- 21Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!
- 22Have you entered the treasuries of the snow, or have you seen the treasures of the hail,
- 23which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?
- 24By what way is the lightning distributed, or the east wind scattered on the earth?
- 25Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm;
- 26To cause it to rain on a land where no man is; on the wilderness, in which there is no man;
- 27to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to grow?
- 28Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew?
- 29Out of whose womb came the ice? The gray frost of the sky, who has given birth to it?
- 30The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen.
- 31“Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?
- 32Can you lead the constellations out in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs?
- 33Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish its dominion over the earth?
- 34“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That abundance of waters may cover you?
- 35Can you send out lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are?’
- 36Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind?
- 37Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of the sky,
- 38when the dust runs into a mass, and the clods of earth stick together?
- 39“Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
- 40when they crouch in their dens, and lie in wait in the thicket?
- 41Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?