“Let darkness and gloom claim it for their own;
Let a cloud settle upon it;
Let all that blackens the day terrify it (the day that I was born).

“Amid disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night,
When deep sleep falls on men,

“Can you discover the depths of God?
Can you [by searching] discover the limits of the Almighty [ascend to His heights, extend to His widths, and comprehend His infinite perfection]?

“He uncovers mysteries [that are difficult to grasp and understand] out of the darkness
And brings black gloom and the shadow of death into light.

“For the morning is the same to him as the thick darkness [of midnight];
For he is familiar with the terrors of thick darkness.

“Man puts an end to darkness [by bringing in a light],
And to the farthest bounds he searches out
The rock buried in gloom and deep shadow.

“[As for] the earth, out of it comes food,
But underneath [its surface, down deep] it is turned over as fire.

“The deep says, ‘It is not in me’;
And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’

“In a dream, a vision of the night [one may hear God’s voice],
When deep sleep falls on men
While slumbering upon the bed,

“Have you entered and explored the springs of the sea
Or [have you] walked in the recesses of the deep?

“Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

“Water becomes like stone [and hides itself],
And the surface of the deep is frozen and imprisoned.

“He makes the deep water boil like a pot;
He makes the sea like a [foaming] pot of ointment.

“Behind him he makes a shining wake;
One would think the deep to be gray-haired [with foam].