Job 38:4-Job 40:2 - Yahweh Interrogates Job
4 Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell if you have understanding! 5 Who has set its measurements, for you know? Or who has stretched the line on it? 6 On what are its bases sunk, or who cast its cornerstone, 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 it came from the womb? 9 When I made the clouds its robe, and darkness its navel-band, 10 and set My limit on it, and set bars and doors, 11 and I said, You shall come to here, but no further; and here your proud waves shall stop.
12 Have you commanded the morning from your days, and caused the dawn to know 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 turned like clay under a seal; and they stand forth like a garment. 15 And from the wicked their light is withheld, and the high arm shall be broken.
16 Have you gone to the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in search of the depths? 17 Have the gates of death been opened to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? 18 Have you understood the breadth of the earth? Tell, if you know it all!
19 Where is the way where light dwells? And where is the place of darkness, 20 that you should take it to its boundary, and that you should know the paths to its house? 21 You know, because 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 kept for the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war? 24 How is it, the way the light is distributed, and how does the east wind spread itself on the earth?
25 Who has cut a channel for the flood, or a way for the thunderclaps; 26 to cause rain to fall on the earth where no man is, a wilderness and no man in it; 27 to satisfy the desolate and waste ground, and to cause the source of grass to spring forth? 28 Has the rain a father? Or who has brought forth the drops of dew? 29 Out of whose womb came the ice? And the frost of the heavens, who fathered it? 30 The waters are hidden like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.
31 Can you bind the bands of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion? 32 Can you bring the constellations in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with its sons? 33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you set up their rulership on the earth? 34 Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that floods of waters may cover you? 35 Can you send lightnings, that they may go, and say to you, Here we are?
36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind? 37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom; or who can empty out the jars of the heavens, 38 when the dust is melted into hardness, and the clods cling fast together?
39 Will you hunt the prey for the lion, or fill the appetite of the young lions, 40 when they crouch in dens, and sit in the cover of their hiding place? 41 Who provides food for the raven, when its young ones cry to God and wander about without food?
1 Do you know the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? Can you observe the calving of deer? 2 Can you number the months that they fulfill? Or do you know the time for their bearing, 3 when they bow down and bring forth; they send out their pangs. 4 Their young ones are strong, they multiply with grain; they go forth and do not return to them again.
5 Who has sent out the wild ass free? Or who has loosed the bands of the wild ass, 6 to whom I have assigned the wilderness for its home, and the salt land for its dwellings? 7 He scorns the turmoil of the city; he does not hear the driver's shouts. 8 He seeks out mountains for his pasture, and he searches after every green thing. 9 Will the wild ox be willing to serve you, or spend the night by your feed-trough? 10 Can you tie the wild ox in the furrow with his rope? Or will he harrow the valleys for you? 11 Will you trust him because his strength is great? Or will you leave your labor to him? 12 Will you trust him, that he will return your seed and gather it to your grain-floor?
13 The wing of the ostrich beats joyously; though not like the stork's pinions for flight. 14 For she leaves her eggs to the earth, and lets them warm in the dust, 15 and forgets that a foot may crush them, or that the beast of the field may break them. 16 She treats her young roughly, as if not hers; for her labor is vanity without fear; 17 because God has caused her to forget wisdom, and He has not given her a share in understanding. 18 At the time she lifts herself up on high, she scorns the horse and its rider.
19 Have you given the horse strength? Have you clothed his neck with a mane? 20 Can you make him leap like a locust? The glory of his snorting is terrifying. 21 He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength; he goes on to meet the weapons. 22 He mocks at fear, and is not terrified; and he does not turn back from the sword. 23 The quiver rattles against him, the glittering spear and the shield. 24 He swallows the ground with quivering and rage; and he does not stand still at the sound of the trumpet. 25 When the trumpet sounds, he says, Aha! And he smells the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
26 Does the hawk soar by your understanding? Will he spread his wings toward the south? 27 Does the eagle mount up at your command and make his nest on high? 28 He lives and stays on the rock, on the crag of the rock and the strong place. 29 From there he seeks food, and his eyes see afar off. 30 And his young brood also sucks up blood; and where the dead are, there he is.
1 And Jehovah answered Job and said, 2 Shall a reprover contend with the Almighty? He who reproves God, let him answer it.