[38:1] Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
[38:2] “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
[38:3] Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.
[38:4] “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.
[38:5] Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?
[38:6] On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,
[38:7] when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
[38:8] “Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb,
[38:9] when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band,
[38:10] and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors,
[38:11] and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?
[38:12] “Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,
[38:13] that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?
[38:14] It is changed like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment.
[38:15] From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken.
[38:16] “Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?
[38:17] Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
[38:18] Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.
[38:19] “Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness,
[38:20] that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home?
[38:21] You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!
[38:22] “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
[38:23] which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?
[38:24] What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?
[38:25] “Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt,
[38:26] to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man,
[38:27] to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass?
[38:28] “Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew?
[38:29] From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven?
[38:30] The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.
[38:31] “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion?
[38:32] Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children?
[38:33] Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?
[38:34] “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you?
[38:35] Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’?
[38:36] Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind?
[38:37] Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
[38:38] when the dust runs into a mass and the clods stick fast together?
[38:39] “Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
[38:40] when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket?
[38:41] Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?
[39:1] “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the does?
[39:2] Can you number the months that they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth,
[39:3] when they crouch, bring forth their offspring, and are delivered of their young?
[39:4] Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open; they go out and do not return to them.
[39:5] “Who has let the wild donkey go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,
[39:6] to whom I have given the arid plain for his home and the salt land for his dwelling place?
[39:7] He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver.
[39:8] He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.
[39:9] “Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your manger?
[39:10] Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you?
[39:11] Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you leave to him your labor?
[39:12] Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?
[39:13] “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love?
[39:14] For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them be warmed on the ground,
[39:15] forgetting that a foot may crush them and that the wild beast may trample them.
[39:16] She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear,
[39:17] because God has made her forget wisdom and given her no share in understanding.
[39:18] When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and his rider.
[39:19] “Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane?
[39:20] Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrifying.
[39:21] He paws in the valley and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons.
[39:22] He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword.
[39:23] Upon him rattle the quiver, the flashing spear, and the javelin.
[39:24] With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground; he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
[39:25] When the trumpet sounds, he says ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
[39:26] “Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads his wings toward the south?
[39:27] Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high?
[39:28] On the rock he dwells and makes his home, on the rocky crag and stronghold.
[39:29] From there he spies out the prey; his eyes behold it from far away.
[39:30] His young ones suck up blood, and where the slain are, there is he.”
[40:1] And the Lord said to Job:
[40:2] “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.”