Job 38:1-39:30

The LORD Speaks 1Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

2“Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?

3Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.

4“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.

5Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?

6On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—

7while the morning stars sang together and all the angels Hebrew the sons of God shouted for joy?

8“Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,

9when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness,

10when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place,

11when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?

12“Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place,

13that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?

14The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment.

15The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken.

16“Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?

17Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?

18Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.

19“What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside?

20Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings?

21Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!

22“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail,

23which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle?

24What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?

25Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm,

26to water a land where no one lives, an uninhabited desert,

27to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?

28Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew?

29From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens

30when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?

31“Can you bind the chains Septuagint; Hebrew beauty of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion’s belt?

32Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons Or the morning star in its season or lead out the Bear Or out Leo with its cubs?

33Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God’s Or their dominion over the earth?

34“Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water?

35Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?

36Who gives the ibis wisdom That is, wisdom about the flooding of the Nile or gives the rooster understanding? That is, understanding of when to crow; the meaning of the Hebrew for this verse is uncertain.

37Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens

38when the dust becomes hard and the clods of earth stick together?

39“Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions

40when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket? 41Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?

1“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn?

2Do you count the months till they bear? Do you know the time they give birth?

3They crouch down and bring forth their young; their labor pains are ended.

4Their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds; they leave and do not return.

5“Who let the wild donkey go free? Who untied its ropes?

6I gave it the wasteland as its home, the salt flats as its habitat.

7It laughs at the commotion in the town; it does not hear a driver’s shout.

8It ranges the hills for its pasture and searches for any green thing.

9“Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will it stay by your manger at night?

10Can you hold it to the furrow with a harness? Will it till the valleys behind you?

11Will you rely on it for its great strength? Will you leave your heavy work to it?

12Can you trust it to haul in your grain and bring it to your threshing floor?

13“The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, though they cannot compare with the wings and feathers of the stork.

14She lays her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand,

15unmindful that a foot may crush them, that some wild animal may trample them.

16She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers; she cares not that her labor was in vain,

17for God did not endow her with wisdom or give her a share of good sense.

18Yet when she spreads her feathers to run, she laughs at horse and rider.

19“Do you give the horse its strength or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?

20Do you make it leap like a locust, striking terror with its proud snorting?

21It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strength, and charges into the fray.

22It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; it does not shy away from the sword.

23The quiver rattles against its side, along with the flashing spear and lance.

24In frenzied excitement it eats up the ground; it cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.

25At the blast of the trumpet it snorts, ‘Aha!’ It catches the scent of battle from afar, the shout of commanders and the battle cry.

26“Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom and spread its wings toward the south?

27Does the eagle soar at your command and build its nest on high?

28It dwells on a cliff and stays there at night; a rocky crag is its stronghold.

29From there it looks for food; its eyes detect it from afar. 30Its young ones feast on blood, and where the slain are, there it is.”