Job, 38

1. Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,

1. Then Yahweh answered Job out of the storm:

2. Who [is] this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

2. Who is this that obscures divine plans with ignorant words?

3. Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.

3. Gird up your loins like a man; I will question you and you must answer.

4. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

4. Where were you when I founded the earth? Answer, and show me your knowledge.

5. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?

5. Do you know who determined its size, who stretched out its measuring line?

6. Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;

6. On what were its bases set? Who laid its cornerstone,

7. When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

7. while the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy?

8. Or [who] shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, [as if] it had issued out of the womb?

8. Who shut the sea behind closed doors when it burst forth from the womb,

9. When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,

9. when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling clothes;

10. And brake up for it my decreed [place], and set bars and doors,

10. when I set its limits with doors and bars in place,

11. And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?

11. when I said, "You will not go beyond these bounds; here is where your proud waves must halt?"

12. Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; [and] caused the dayspring to know his place;

12. Have you ever commanded the morning, or shown the dawn its place,

13. That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?

13. that it might grasp the earth by its edges and shake the wicked out of it,

14. It is turned as clay [to] the seal; and they stand as a garment.

14. when it takes a clay color and changes its tint like a garment;

15. And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.

15. when the wicked are denied their own light, and their proud arm is shattered?

16. Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?

16. Have you journeyed to where the sea begins or walked in its deepest recesses?

17. Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?

17. Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of Shadow?

18. Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all.

18. Have you an idea of the breadth of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.

19. Where [is] the way [where] light dwelleth? and [as for] darkness, where [is] the place thereof,

19. Where is the way to the home of light, and where does darkness dwell?

20. That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths [to] the house thereof?

20. Can you take them to their own regions, and set them on their homeward paths?

21. Knowest thou [it], because thou wast then born? or [because] the number of thy days [is] great?

21. You know, for you were born before them, and great is the number of your years!

22. Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,

22. Have you entered the storehouse of the snow or seen the storehouse of the hail,

23. Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?

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

24. By what way is the light parted, [which] scattereth the east wind upon the earth?

24. What is the way to the place where lightning is dispersed, or the place whence the east wind begins spreading over the earth?

25. Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;

25. Who has cut a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm,

26. To cause it to rain on the earth, [where] no man [is; on] the wilderness, wherein [there is] no man;

26. to bring rain to no-man's-land and to the unpeopled wilderness,

27. To satisfy the desolate and waste [ground]; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?

27. to enrich the wasted and desolate ground, to make the desert bloom with green?

28. Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?

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

29. Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?

29. From whose womb comes the ice, and who gives birth to the frost from the skies,

30. The waters are hid as [with] a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

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

31. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?

31. Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loosen the bonds of Orion?

32. Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?

32. Can you guide the morning star in its season, or lead the Bear with its train?

33. Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?

33. Do you know the laws of the heavens, and can you establish their rule on earth?

34. Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?

34. Can you raise your voice to the clouds and order their waters to pour down?

35. Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we [are]?

35. Will lightnings flash at your command and report to you, "Here we are?"

36. Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?

36. Who has given the ibis foresight or endowed the cock with foreknowledge?

37. Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven,

37. Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who tilts the water jars of heaven

38. When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together?

38. so that the dust cakes into a mass and clods of earth stick together?

39. Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions,

39. Can you hunt the woods to appease the hunger of the lioness and her whelps,

40. When they couch in [their] dens, [and] abide in the covert to lie in wait?

40. as they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in the thicket?

41. Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.

41. Who provides prey for the raven when its young cry out to God and roam about desperate for food?