Job 38:4-Job 40:2 - Yahweh Interrogates Job

⁴ Where wast thou, when I founded the earth? Tell, if thou knowest understanding! ⁵ Who set the measurements thereof, if thou knowest? Or who stretched out over it a line? ⁶ Whereon were the pedestals thereof sunk? Or who laid the corner stone thereof; - ⁷ When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸ Or who shut in, with double doors, the sea, when, bursting out of the womb, it came forth; ⁹ When I put a cloud as the garment thereof, and a thick cloud as the swaddling-band thereof; ¹⁰ And brake off for it my boundary, and fixed a bar and double doors; ¹¹ And said - Hitherto, shalt thou come, and no further, - and, here, shalt thou set a limit to the majesty of thy waves?

¹² Since thy days began hast thou commanded the morning? or caused the dawn to know its place; ¹³ That it might lay hold of the wings of the earth, and the lawless be shaken out of it? ¹⁴ It transformeth itself like the clay of a seal, so that things stand forth like one arrayed; ¹⁵ That their light may be withdrawn from the lawless, and, the lofty arm, be shivered.

¹⁶ Hast thou entered as far as the springs of the sea? Or, through the secret recesses of the resounding deep, hast thou wandered? ¹⁷ Have the gates of death been disclosed to thee? And, the gates of the death-shade, couldst thou descry? ¹⁸ Hast thou well considered, even the breadths of the earth? Tell - if thou knowest it all!

¹⁹ Where then is the way, the light shall abide? And, the darkness, where then is its place? ²⁰ That thou mayest conduct it unto the bound thereof, and that thou mayest perceive the paths to its house. ²¹ Thou knowest, for, then, hadst thou been born! And, in number, thy days are many! ²² Hast thou entered into the treasuries of the snow? And, the treasuries of the hail, couldst thou see? ²³ Which I have reserved for a time of distress, for the day of conflict and of war? ²⁴ Where then is the way the lightning is parted? The east wind spreadeth itself abroad over the earth.

²⁵ Who hath cloven - for the torrent - a channel? Or a way for the lightning of thunders; ²⁶ To give rain over the no-man's land, the desert, where no son of earth is; ²⁷ To satisfy the wild and the wilderness, to cause to spring forth the meadow of young grass? ²⁸ Hath the rain a father? Or who hath begotten the drops of dew? ²⁹ Out of whose womb, came forth the ice? And, the hoar-frost of the heavens, who hath given it birth? ³⁰ Like a stone, are the waters congealed, and, the face of the roaring deep, becometh firm!

³¹ Canst thou bind the fetters of the Pleiades? Or, the bands of Orion, canst thou unloose? ³² Canst thou bring forth the signs of the Zodiac each in its season? Or, the Bear and her Young, canst thou lead? ³³ Knowest thou, the statutes of the heavens? Or didst thou appoint his dominion over the earth? ³⁴ Canst thou lift up, to the thick cloud, thy voice, and the overflow of waters cover thee? ³⁵ Canst thou send forth the lightnings, so that they go, and say to thee, Behold us?

³⁶ Who hath put - into cloud-forms - wisdom? Or who hath given - to the meteor - understanding? ³⁷ Who can count the thin clouds, in wisdom? And, the bottles of the heavens, who can empty out; ³⁸ When the dust is cast into a clod, and the lumps are bound together?

³⁹ Wilt thou hunt - for the Lioness - prey? Or, the craving of the Strong Lion, wilt thou satisfy; ⁴⁰ When they settle down in dens, abide in covert, for lying in wait? ⁴¹ Who prepareth for the Raven his nourishment, - when his young ones - unto GOD - cry out, when they wander for lack of food?

¹ Knowest thou the season when the Wild Goats of the crags beget? The bringing forth of the hinds, canst thou observe? ² Canst thou count the months they fulfil? Or knowest thou the time when they give birth? ³ They kneel down, their young, they bring forth; their pains, they throw off; ⁴ Their young become strong, they grow up in the open field, they go out, and return not unto them.

⁵ Who hath sent forth the Wild Ass free? And, the bands of the swift-runner, who hath loosed? ⁶ Whose house I have made the waste plain, and his dwellings, the land of salt: ⁷ He laugheth at the throng of the city, The shoutings of the driver, he heareth not; ⁸ He espieth the mountains, his pasture-ground, and, after every green thing, maketh search. ⁹ Will the Wild-Ox be pleased to be thy servant? or lodge for the night by thy crib? ¹⁰ Canst thou bind the wild-ox, so that - with the ridge - shall run his cord? Or will he harrow the furrows after thee? ¹¹ Wilt thou trust in him, because of the greatness of his strength? Wilt thou leave unto him thy toil? ¹² Wilt thou put faith in him, that he will bring back thy seed? and that, corn for thy threshing-floor, he will gather?

¹³ The wing of the Ostrich that waveth itself joyfully, Is it the pinion of lovingkindness or the plumage? ¹⁴ For she leaveth - to the earth - her eggs, and, on the dust, she letteth them be warmed; ¹⁵ And hath forgotten, that, a foot, may crush them, - or, the wild beast, tread on them! ¹⁶ Dealing hardly with her young, as none-of hers, In vain, her labour, without dread. ¹⁷ For GOD hath suffered her to forget wisdom, and given her no share in understanding. ¹⁸ What time, on high, she vibrateth her wings, she laugheth at the horse and his rider.

¹⁹ Couldst thou give - to the Horse - strength? Couldst thou clothe his neck with the quivering mane? ²⁰ Couldst thou cause him to leap like a locust? The majesty of his snort, is a terror! ²¹ He diggeth into the plain, and rejoiceth in vigour, he goeth forth to meet armour; ²² He laugheth at dread, and is not dismayed, neither turneth he back, from the face of the sword; ²³ Against him, whiz the arrows of the quiver, the flashing head of spear and javelin; ²⁴ With stamping and rage, he drinketh up the ground, - he will not stand still when the horn soundeth; ²⁵ As oft as the horn soundeth, he saith, Aha! And, from afar, he scenteth the battle, - the thunder of commanders and the war-cry.

²⁶ Is it, by thine understanding, that the Bird of Passage betaketh him to his pinions? spreadeth out his wings to the south? ²⁷ Or, at thy bidding, that the Eagle mounteth, and that he setteth on high his nest? ²⁸ The crag, he inhabiteth, and so lodgeth himself, on the tooth of the crag, and high fort; ²⁹ From thence, he searcheth out food, far away, his eyes do pierce; ³⁰ And, his young brood, suck up blood, and, where the slain are, there, is he.

¹ And Yahweh responded to Job, and said: - ² Shall a reprover contend, with the Almighty? He that disputeth with GOD, let him answer it!