The Lord Answers Job

38Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
²‘Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
³Gird 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.
⁵Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
   Or who stretched the line upon it?
⁶On what were its bases sunk,
   or who laid its cornerstone
⁷when the morning stars sang together
   and all the heavenly beings^* shouted for joy?

⁸‘Or who shut in the sea with doors
   when it burst out from the womb?—
⁹when I made the clouds its garment,
   and thick darkness its swaddling band,
¹⁰and prescribed bounds for it,
   and set bars and doors,
¹¹and said, “Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
   and here shall your proud waves be stopped”?

Job Is Humbled and Satisfied

42Then Job answered the Lord:
²‘I know that you can do all things,
   and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
³“Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?”
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
   things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
⁴“Hear, and I will speak;
   I will question you, and you declare to me.”
⁵I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
   but now my eye sees you;