"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding.

Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind,

when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?

when they crouch in their dens, and lie in wait in the thicket?

"Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?

"Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

Have you entered the treasuries of the snow, or have you seen the treasures of the hail,

"Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

"Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth from the womb,

Whereupon were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone,

"Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place;

"Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?

and said, 'Here you may come, but no further. Here your proud waves shall be stayed?'

Can you lead forth the constellations in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs?

"What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place,

Brace yourself like a man, for I will question you, then you answer me!

Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish its dominion over the earth?

Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind?

Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm;

marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors,

Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness,

that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it?

It is changed as clay under the seal, and stands forth as a garment.

Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew?

Out of whose womb came the ice? The gray frost of the sky, who has given birth to it?

Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, 'Here we are?'

By what way is the lightning distributed, or the east wind scattered on the earth?

Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it?

From the wicked, their light is withheld. The high arm is broken.

To cause it to rain on a land where no man is; on the wilderness, in which there is no man;

Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of the sky,

"Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That abundance of waters may cover you?

The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen.

Have you comprehended the earth in its breadth? Declare, if you know it all.

when the dust runs into a mass, and the clods of earth stick together?

which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?

to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to spring forth?

that you should take it to its bound, that you should discern the paths to its house?

Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!