Bible Browser

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’?

¹²“Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, ¹³so that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? ¹⁴It is changed like clay under the seal, and it is dyed like a garment. ¹⁵Light is withheld from the wicked, and their uplifted arm is broken. ¹⁶“Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep? ¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? ¹⁸Have 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, ²⁰that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home? ²¹Surely 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, ²³which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? ²⁴What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?

²⁵“Who has cut a channel for the torrents of rain, and a way for the thunderbolt, ²⁶to bring rain on a land where no one lives, on the desert, which is empty of human life, ²⁷to 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? ²⁹From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven? ³⁰The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. ³¹“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loose the cords of Orion? ³²Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children? ³³Do 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, so that a flood of waters may cover you? ³⁵Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’? ³⁶Who has put wisdom in the inward parts, or given understanding to the mind? ³⁷Who has the wisdom to number the clouds? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens, ³⁸when the dust runs into a mass and the clods cling together? ³⁹“Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, ⁴⁰when they crouch in their dens, or lie in wait in their covert? ⁴¹Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food?

39“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the deer? ²Can you number the months that they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth, ³when they crouch to give birth to their offspring, and are delivered of their young? ⁴Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open; they go forth, and do not return to them. ⁵“Who has let the wild ass go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass, ⁶to which I have given the steppe for its home, the salt land for its dwelling place? ⁷It scorns the tumult of the city; it does not hear the shouts of the driver. ⁸It ranges the mountains as its pasture, and it searches after every green thing. ⁹“Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will it spend the night at your crib? ¹⁰Can you tie it in the furrow with ropes, or will it harrow the valleys after you? ¹¹Will you depend on it because its strength is great, and will you hand over your labor to it? ¹²Do you have faith in it that it will return, and bring your grain to your threshing floor?

¹³“The ostrich’s wings flap wildly, though its pinions lack plumage. ¹⁴For it leaves its eggs to the earth, and lets them be warmed on the ground, ¹⁵forgetting that a foot may crush them, and that a wild animal may trample them. ¹⁶It deals cruelly with its young, as if they were not its own; though its labor should be in vain, yet it has no fear; ¹⁷because God has made it forget wisdom, and given it no share in understanding. ¹⁸When it spreads its plumes aloft, it laughs at the horse and its rider.

¹⁹“Do you give the horse its might? Do you clothe its neck with mane? ²⁰Do you make it leap like the locust? Its majestic snorting is terrible. ²¹It paws violently, exults mightily; it goes out to meet the weapons. ²²It laughs at fear, and is not dismayed; it does not turn back from the sword. ²³Upon it rattle the quiver, the flashing spear, and the javelin. ²⁴With fierceness and rage it swallows the ground; it cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet. ²⁵When the trumpet sounds, it says ‘Aha!’ From a distance it smells the battle, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

²⁶“Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and spreads its wings toward the south? ²⁷Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes its nest on high? ²⁸It lives on the rock and makes its home in the fastness of the rocky crag. ²⁹From there it spies the prey; its eyes see it from far away. ³⁰Its young ones suck up blood; and where the slain are, there it is.”

40And the Lord said to Job: ²“Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Anyone who argues with God must respond.”