“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you know and have understanding.

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,

When the morning stars sang together
And all the sons of God (angels) shouted for joy?

“Who provides prey for the raven
When its young cry to God
And wander about without food?

When they crouch in their dens
And lie in wait in their lair?

“Can you bind the chains of [the cluster of stars called] Pleiades,
Or loose the cords of [the constellation] Orion?

“Can you [Job] hunt the prey for the lion,
Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions

“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
Or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

“Who is this that darkens counsel [questioning my authority and wisdom]
By words without knowledge?

“Or who enclosed the sea with doors
When it burst forth and went out of the womb;

“On what were its foundations fastened?
Or who laid its cornerstone,

“Since your days began, have you ever commanded the morning,
And caused the dawn to know its place,

“Have you entered and explored the springs of the sea
Or [have you] walked in the recesses of the deep?

And said, ‘This far you shall come, but no farther;
And here your proud waves shall stop’?

“Can you lead forth a constellation in its season,
And guide [the stars of] the Bear with her sons?

“Where is the way where light dwells?
And as for darkness, where is its place,

“Now gird up your loins like a man,
And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!

“Do you know the ordinances of the heavens,
Or [can you] establish their rule over the earth?

“Who has put wisdom in the innermost being [of man, or in the layers of clouds]
Or given understanding to the mind [of man, or to the heavenly display]?

“Who has prepared a channel for the torrents of rain and for the flood,
Or a path for the thunderbolt,

And marked for it My [appointed] boundary
And set bars and doors [defining the shorelines],

“Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

When I made the clouds its garment
And thick darkness its swaddling band,

So that light may take hold of the corners of the earth
And shake the wickedness out of it?

“The earth is changed like clay into which a seal is pressed;
And the things [of the earth] stand out like a [multi-colored] garment.

“Has the rain a father?
Or who has begotten the drops of dew?

“Out of whose womb has come the ice?
And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth?

“Can you send forth lightnings that they may go
And say to you, ‘Here we are’?

“Where is the way that the light is distributed,
Or the east wind scattered over the earth?

“Who determined the measurements [of the earth], if you know?
Or who stretched the [measuring] line on it?

“Their light is withheld from the wicked,
And the uplifted arm is broken.

To bring rain on the uninhabited land,
And on the desert where no man lives,

“Who can count the clouds by [earthly] wisdom,
Or pour out the water jars of the heavens,

“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
So that an abundance of water will cover you?

“Water becomes like stone [and hides itself],
And the surface of the deep is frozen and imprisoned.

“Have you understood the expanse of the earth?
Tell Me, if you know all this.

When the dust hardens into a mass
And the clods stick together [because of the heat]?

Which I have reserved for the time of trouble,
For the day of battle and war?

To satisfy the barren and desolate ground
And to make the seeds of grass to sprout?

That you may take it to its territory
And that you may know the paths to its house?

“You [must] know, since you were born then,
And because you are so extremely old!