Job 38:1-41
38 And Jehovah proceeded to answer Job out of the windstorm+ and say:
2 “Who is this that is obscuring counselBy words without knowledge?+
3 Gird up your loins, please, like an able-bodied man,And let me question you, and you inform me.+
4 Where did you happen to be when I founded the earth?+Tell [me], if you do know understanding.
5 Who set its measurements, in case you know,Or who stretched out upon it the measuring line?
6 Into what have its socket pedestals+ been sunk down,Or who laid its cornerstone,
7 When the morning stars+ joyfully cried out together,And all the sons of God*+ began shouting in applause?
8 And [who] barricaded the sea with doors,*+Which began to go forth as when it burst out from the womb;
9 When I put the cloud as its* garmentAnd thick gloom as its swaddling band,
10 And I proceeded to break up* my regulation upon itAnd to set a bar and doors,+
11 And I went on to say, ‘This far you may come, and no farther;+And here your proud waves are limited’?+
12 Was it from your days onward that you commanded the morning?+Did you cause the dawn to know its place,
13 To take hold on the extremities* of the earth,That the wicked ones* might be shaken out from it?+
14 It transforms itself like clay+ under a seal,And things* take their station as in clothing.
15 And from the wicked ones* their light is held back,+And the high arm itself gets broken.+
16 Have you come to the sources* of the sea,Or in search of the watery deep*+ have you walked about?+
17 Have the gates of death+ been uncovered to you,Or the gates of deep shadow*+ can you see?
18 Have you intelligently considered the broad spaces of the earth?+Tell, if you have come to know it all.
19 Where, now, is the way to where light resides?+As for darkness, where, now, is its place,
20 That you should take it to its boundaryAnd that you should understand the roadways to its house?
21 Have you come to know because at that time you were being born,+And [because] in number your days are many?
22 Have you entered into the storehouses of the snow,+Or do you see even the storehouses of the hail,+
23 Which I have kept back for the time of distress,For the day of fight and war?+
24 Where, now, is the way by which the light* distributes itself,[And] the east wind+ scatters about upon the earth?
25 Who has divided a channel for the floodAnd a way for the thunderous storm cloud,+
26 To make it rain upon the land where there is no man,*+[Upon] the wilderness in which there is no earthling man,*
27 To satisfy storm-stricken and desolate placesAnd to cause the growth of grass to sprout?+
28 Does there exist a father for the rain,+Or who gave birth to the dewdrops?+
29 Out of whose belly does the ice actually come forth,And as for the hoarfrost+ of heaven, who indeed brings it to birth?
30 The very waters keep themselves hidden as by stone,And the surface of the watery deep makes itself compact.+
31 Can you tie fast the bonds of the Kiʹmah constellation,*Or can you loosen the very cords of the Keʹsil constellation?*+
32 Can you bring forth the Mazʹza·roth constellation* in its appointed time?And as for the Ash constellation* alongside its sons, can you conduct them?
33 Have you come to know the statutes of the heavens,+Or could you put its authority in the earth?
34 Can you raise your voice even to the cloud,So that a heaving mass of water itself may cover you?+
35 Can you send forth lightnings that they may goAnd say to you, ‘Here we are!’?
36 Who put wisdom+ in the cloud layers,*Or who gave understanding+ to the sky phenomenon?*
37 Who can exactly number the clouds in wisdom,Or the water jars of heaven—who can tip [them] over,+
38 When the dust pours out as into a molten mass,And the clods of earth themselves get stuck together?
39 Can you hunt prey for a lion itselfAnd can you satisfy* the lively appetite of young lions,+
40 When they crouch in the hiding places,+[Or] keep lying in the covert for an ambush?
41 Who prepares for the raven its food+When its own young ones cry to God* for help,[When] they keep wandering about because there is nothing to eat?
Footnotes
^ “Sons of God.” Or, “godlike ones.” Heb., benehʹ ʼElo·himʹ; T, “the bands of angels”; LXX, “my angels.”
^ That is, the sea’s.
^ “Break up,” M; LXX, “put.”
^ Lit., “wings.”
^ “The wicked ones.” Here in M the Heb. letter ʽAʹyin (ע) is suspended as an insertion to indicate that the word should read “wicked ones” instead of “poor ones.” Compare Jg 18:30 ftn, “Moses’.”
^ Lit., “they.”
^ See vs 13 ftn, “Ones.”
^ Or, “sandy ground.”
^ Lit., “death shadow,” M; LXX, “Hades,” that is, the common grave; T, “death of Gehenna.”
^ “Hoarfrost,” LXX.
^ “Man.” Heb., ʼish.
^ “The Mazzaroth constellation.” Heb., Maz·za·rohthʹ; Gr., Ma·zou·rothʹ (as in 2Ki 23:5 where it is translated “constellations of the zodiac”); Sy, “the Wagon constellation”; Lat., lu·ciʹfe·rum, “the light bearer.”
^ “In the cloud layers.” Heb., bat·tu·chohthʹ, the meaning is uncertain.
^ “To the sky phenomenon.” Heb., las·sekhʹwi, the meaning is uncertain but appears to refer to some heavenly phenomenon.
^ Lit., “fill.”
^ “God.” Heb., ʼEl.
