Job 38

₂Who are you to question my wisdom

with your ignorant, empty words?

₃Now stand up straight

and answer the questions I ask you.

₄Were you there when I made the world?

If you know so much, tell me about it.

₅Who decided how large it would be?

Who stretched the measuring line over it?

Do you know all the answers?

₆What holds up the pillars that support the earth?

Who laid the cornerstone of the world?

₇In the dawn of that day the stars sang together,

and the heavenly beings shouted for joy.

₈Who closed the gates to hold back the sea

when it burst from the womb of the earth?

₉It was I who covered the sea with clouds

and wrapped it in darkness.

₁₀I marked a boundary for the sea

and kept it behind bolted gates.

₁₁I told it, “So far and no farther!

Here your powerful waves must stop.”

₁₂Job, have you ever in all your life

commanded a day to dawn?

₁₃Have you ordered the dawn to seize the earth

and shake the wicked from their hiding places?

₁₄Daylight makes the hills and valleys stand out

like the folds of a garment,

clear as the imprint of a seal on clay.

₁₅The light of day is too bright for the wicked

and restrains them from deeds of violence.

₁₆Have you been to the springs in the depths of the sea?

Have you walked on the floor of the ocean?

₁₇Has anyone ever shown you the gates

that guard the dark world of the dead?

₁₈Have you any idea how big the world is?

Answer me if you know.

₁₉Do you know where the light comes from

or what the source of darkness is?

₂₀Can you show them how far to go,

or send them back again?

₂₁I am sure you can, because you're so old

and were there when the world was made!

₂₂Have you ever visited the storerooms,

where I keep the snow and the hail?

₂₃I keep them ready for times of trouble,

for days of battle and war.

₂₄Have you been to the place where the sun comes up,

or the place from which the east wind blows?

₂₅Who dug a channel for the pouring rain

and cleared the way for the thunderstorm?

₂₆Who makes rain fall where no one lives?

₂₇Who waters the dry and thirsty land,

so that grass springs up?

₂₈Does either the rain or the dew have a father?

₂₉Who is the mother of the ice and the frost,

₃₀which turn the waters to stone

and freeze the face of the sea?

₃₁Can you tie the Pleiades together

or loosen the bonds that hold Orion?

₃₂Can you guide the stars season by season

and direct the Great and the Little Bear?

₃₃Do you know the laws that govern the skies,

and can you make them apply to the earth?

₃₄Can you shout orders to the clouds

and make them drench you with rain?

₃₅And if you command the lightning to flash,

will it come to you and say, “At your service”?

₃₆Who tells the ibis when the Nile will flood,

or who tells the cock that rain will fall?

₃₇Who is wise enough to count the clouds

and tilt them over to pour out the rain,

₃₈rain that hardens the dust into lumps?

₃₉Do you find food for lions to eat,

and satisfy hungry young lions

₄₀when they hide in their caves,

or lie in wait in their dens?

₄₁Who is it that feeds the ravens

when they wander about hungry,

when their young cry to me for food?