Job 38:4-Job 40:2 - Yahweh Interrogates Job
4 "Where were you at my laying the foundation of [the] earth? Tell [me], if you possess understanding. 5 Who determined its measurement? Yes, you do know. Or who stretched [the] measuring line upon it? 6 On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, 7 when [the] morning stars were singing together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 "Or [who] shut [the] sea in with doors at its bursting, [when] it went out of [the] womb, 9 at my making [the] clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, 10 and I prescribed my rule for it, and I set bars and doors, 11 and I said, 'You shall come up to here, but you shall not go further, and here it will set [a boundary] {for your proud surging waves}'?
12 "Have you {ever in your life} commanded [the] morning? Have you made the dawn know its place, 13 to take hold of the earth's skirts so that the wicked might be shaken off from it? 14 It is changed like clay [under] a seal, and they appear like a garment. 15 And their light is withheld from [the] wicked, and [their] uplifted arm is broken.
16 "Have you entered into [the] sea's sources? Or have you walked around in [the] recesses of the deep? 17 Have [the] gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen [the] gates of deep shadow? 18 Have you considered closely [the] earth's vast expanse? Declare [it], if you know all of it.
19 "Where then [is] the way [where] [the] light dwells? And where then [is] its place, 20 that you may take it to its territory, and that you might discern the paths to its home? 21 You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days [is] great. 22 Have you entered into [the] storehouses of [the] snow, or have you seen [the] storehouses of [the] hail, 23 which I have reserved for [the] time of trouble, for [the] day of battle and war? 24 Where then [is] the way [where] [the] light is distributed, [where] he scatters [the] east wind upon [the] earth?
25 "Who has cut open a channel for the torrents and a way for [the] {thunder bolts}, 26 to bring rain on a land {where no one lives}, a desert {where no humans live}, 27 to satisfy desert and wasteland, and to cause [the ground] to put forth [the] rising of grass? 28 Is there a father for the rain, or who fathered [the] drops of dew? 29 From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who fathered [the] frost of heaven? 30 Like stone [the] waters become hard, and [the] faces of the deep freeze.
31 "Can you bind [the] chains of [the] Pleiades, or can you loosen [the] cords of Orion? 32 Can you lead forth the southern constellations at their appointed time, or can you lead [the] Bear with its children? 33 Do you know heaven's statutes, or can you establish their rule on the earth? 34 Can you lift up your voice to the clouds so that a flood of water may cover you? 35 Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go? And will they say to you, 'Here we are'?
36 Who has put wisdom in the ibis, or who has given understanding to the rooster? 37 Who can number [the] clouds with wisdom? Or who can tilt heaven's jars, 38 at [the] flowing of [the] dust into a cast and [the] clods cling together?
39 "Can you hunt prey for [the] lion? And can you satisfy [the] hunger of strong lions 40 when they are crouched in the dens, [when] they lie in the thicket in an ambush? 41 Who prepares for the crow its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, [and] they wander around {for lack of food}?
1 "Do you know [the] time when [the] goats of [the] rocks give birth? Do you observe [the] doe deer's giving birth? 2 Can you number [the] months they fulfill, and do you know [the] time of its giving birth? 3 When they crouch, they bring forth their young ones; they get rid of their labor pains. 4 Their young ones grow strong; they grow up in the open; they go forth and do not return to them.
5 "Who has sent forth [the] wild ass free? And who has released [the] wild donkey's bonds, 6 [to] which I have given [the] wilderness [as] its house and [the] salt flat [as] its dwelling place? 7 It scorns [the] city's turmoil; it does not hear [the] driver's shouts. 8 It explores [the] mountains [as] its pasture and searches after every kind of green plant. 9 "Is [the] wild ox willing to serve you, or will he spend the night at your feeding trough? 10 Can you tie [the] wild ox [with] its rope to a furrow, or will it harrow [the] valleys after you? 11 Can you trust it because its strength [is] great, or will you hand your labor over to it? 12 Can you rely on it that it will return your grain and [that] it will gather [it] to your threshing floor?
13 "[The] wings of [the] female ostrich flap-- [are they] [the] pinions of [the] stork or [the] falcon? 14 Indeed, it leaves its eggs to the earth, and it lets [them] be warmed on [the] ground, 15 and it forgets that a foot might crush an egg, and {a wild animal} might trample it. 16 It deals cruelly with its young ones, as [if] [they were] not its [own], as [if] without fear [that] its labor [were] in vain, 17 because God made it forget wisdom, and he did not give it a share in understanding. 18 When it spreads its wings {aloft}, it laughs at the horse and its rider.
19 "Do you give power to the horse? Do you clothe its neck [with] a mane? 20 Do you make it leap like the locust? [The] majesty of its snorting [is] terrifying. 21 They paw in the valley, and it exults with strength; it goes out to meet [the] battle. 22 It laughs at danger and is not dismayed, and it does not turn back from {before} [the] sword. 23 Upon it [the] quiver rattles [along with] [the] flash of [the] spear and [the] short sword. 24 With roar and rage {it races over the ground}, and it cannot stand still at [the] sound of [the] horn. 25 {Whenever} a horn [sounds], it says, 'Aha!' And it smells [the] battle from a distance-- [the] thunder of [the] commanders and [the] war cry.
26 "Does [the] hawk soar by your wisdom? Does it spread its wings to [the] south? 27 Or does [the] eagle fly high at your command and construct its nest high? 28 It lives [on the] rock and spends the night {on the rock point and the mountain stronghold}. 29 From there it spies out [the] prey; its eyes look from far away. 30 And its young ones lick blood greedily, and where [the] dead carcasses [are], there they [are]."
1 Then Yahweh answered Job and said, 2 "Shall a faultfinder contend with Shaddai? Anyone who argues with God must answer it."