| 1. | Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind: |
| 2. | "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? |
| 3. | Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me. |
| 4. | "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. |
| 5. | Who determined its measurements -- surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? |
| 6. | On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, |
| 7. | when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? |
| 8. | "Or who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth from the womb; |
| 9. | when I made clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band, |
| 10. | and prescribed bounds for it, and set bars and doors, |
| 11. | and said, `Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed'? |
| 12. | "Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, |
| 13. | that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? |
| 14. | It is changed like clay under the seal, and it is dyed like a garment. |
| 15. | From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken. |
| 16. | "Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep? |
| 17. | Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? |
| 18. | Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this. |
| 19. | "Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness, |
| 20. | that you may take it to its territory and that you may 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 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. | What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth? |
| 25. | "Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain, and a way for the thunderbolt, |
| 26. | to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man; |
| 27. | to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground put forth grass? |
| 28. | "Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew? |
| 29. | From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven? |
| 30. | The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. |
| 31. | "Can you bind the chains of the Plei'ades, or loose the cords of Orion? |
| 32. | Can you lead forth the Maz'zaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children? |
| 33. | Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth? |
| 34. | "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you? |
| 35. | Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, `Here we are'? |
| 36. | Who has put wisdom in the clouds, or given understanding to the mists? |
| 37. | Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens, |
| 38. | when the dust runs into a mass and the clods cleave fast together? |
| 39. | "Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, |
| 40. | when they crouch in their dens, or lie in wait in their covert? |
| 41. | Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food? |
