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

⁴ Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Cause me to know, if thou hast understanding. ⁵ Who ordered its dimensions, if thou knowest? Or who has stretched the line upon it? ⁶ Upon what are its foundations founded? Or who laid its corner stone; ⁷ when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸ Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? ⁹ When I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness a swaddling band for it, ¹⁰ and established my decree upon it, and set bars and doors, ¹¹ and said, Thou shalt come unto here, but no further; and there shall the pride of thy waves be stayed.

¹² Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days? Hast thou shown the dayspring its place, ¹³ that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? ¹⁴ It is transformed as clay to the seal and then stands as a garment; ¹⁵ but the light of the wicked is taken from them, and the high arm is broken.

¹⁶ Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? Or hast thou walked searching out the deep? ¹⁷ Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? Or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death? ¹⁸ Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? Declare if thou knowest it all.

¹⁹ Where is the way to the habitation of the light, and where is the place of the darkness? ²⁰ If thou shalt take it in its borders, and if thou should understand the paths to its house? ²¹ If thou didst know when thou wast to be born or if the number of thy days was to be great? ²² Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow, and hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, ²³ which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war? ²⁴ By what way is the light divided; from where is the east wind scattered upon the earth?

²⁵ Who has divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters or a way for the lightning of thunder, ²⁶ to cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, in which there is no man; ²⁷ to satisfy the desolate and waste ground and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth? ²⁸ Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of the dew? ²⁹ Out of whose womb came the ice, and the hoary frost of heaven, who has begotten it? ³⁰ The waters harden as stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

³¹ Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? ³² Canst thou bring forth the signs of the heavens in their season, or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? ³³ Dost thou know the ordinances of the heavens? Canst thou use its power in the earth? ³⁴ Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee? ³⁵ Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go and say unto thee, Here we are?

³⁶ Who put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who gave intelligence to understanding? ³⁷ Who declared the heavens in wisdom? Or who can stay the bottles of heaven ³⁸ when the dust hardens and the clods cleave fast together?

³⁹ Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion or fill the appetite of the young lions, ⁴⁰ when they crouch in their dens and abide in their lairs to lie in wait? ⁴¹ Who provided food for the raven; when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of food?

¹ Knowest thou the time when the mountain goats bring forth? Hast thou observed when the hinds calve? ² Canst thou number the months that they fulfil, and knowest thou the time when they bring forth? ³ How they crouch down, they bring forth their young ones, and dismiss their pain. ⁴ Their young ones are healthy, they grow up with grain; they go forth and never return unto them again.

⁵ Who freed the wild ass, and who loosed its bands? ⁶ Unto whom I made a house in the wilderness, and his dwellings in the salty land. ⁷ He laughs at the multitude of the city, neither does he hearken to the voice of the exactor of tribute. ⁸ The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searches after every green thing. ⁹ Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee or abide by thy crib? ¹⁰ Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? Will he harrow the valleys after thee? ¹¹ Wilt thou trust him because his strength is great? Or wilt thou leave thy labour to him? ¹² Wilt thou trust him, that he will bring home thy seed and gather it into thy barn?

¹³ Didst thou give beautiful wings unto the peacock, or wings and feathers unto the ostrich? ¹⁴ Who leaves her eggs in the earth and warms them in dust ¹⁵ and forgets that the foot may crush them or that the wild beast may break them. ¹⁶ She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers, not fearing that her labour is in vain, ¹⁷ because God caused her to forget wisdom and did not give her understanding. ¹⁸ In her time she lifts up herself on high; she scorns the horse and his rider.

¹⁹ Hast thou given the horse strength? Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? ²⁰ Canst thou make him leap as a grasshopper? The glory of his nostrils is formidable. ²¹ He paws at the earth and rejoices in his strength; he goes forth to meet the armed men. ²² He mocks fear and is not afraid; neither does he turn his face from the sword. ²³ The quiver rattles against him, the glittering spear and the shield. ²⁴ He swallows the ground with fierceness and rage; the sound of the shofar does not trouble him; ²⁵ for the blasts of the shofar fill him with courage; he smells the battle afar off, the thunder of the princes and the sound of the battle-cry.

²⁶ Does the hawk fly by thy industry and stretch her wings toward the south? ²⁷ Does the eagle mount up at thy command and make her nest on high? ²⁸ She dwells and abides on the rock upon the crag of the rock and the strong place. ²⁹ From there she seeks food, and her eyes behold afar off. ³⁰ Her young ones suck up the blood; and wherever the slain are, there she is.

¹ Moreover, the LORD answered Job and said, ² Shall he that contends with the Almighty instruct him? Let him that disputes with God answer this.