Job 38

¹But our Lord answering Job out of a whirlwind, said:

²Who is this that wrappeth in sentences with unskillful words?

³Gird thy loins as a man: I will ask thee, and answer thou me.

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

⁵Who set the measures thereof, if thou know: or who stretched out the line upon it?

⁶Upon what are the foundations thereof grounded? Or who let down the corner stone thereof,

⁷when the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made jubilation?

⁸Who shut in the sea with doors when it brake forth, proceeding as it were out of a matrice:

⁹When I made a cloud the garment thereof, and wrapped it in darkness as in clouts of infancy.

¹⁰I compassed it with my bounds, and put bar and doors.

¹¹And I said. Hitherto thou shalt come, and shalt not proceed farther, and here thou shalt break thy swelling waves.

¹²Didst thou after thy birth command the morning, and shew the dawning his place?

¹³And didst thou hold the extremities of the earth shaking them & hast thou shaken the impious out of it?

¹⁴The seal shall be restored as clay, and shall stand as a garment:

¹⁵From the impious their light shall be taken away, and the high arm shall be broken.

¹⁶Hast thou entered into the depths of the sea, and walked in the lowest parts of the great depth?

¹⁷Have the gates of death been open to thee, & hast thou seen the darksome doors?

¹⁸Hast thou considered the breadth of the earth? Tell me if thou know all things,

¹⁹In what way the light dwelleth, & what is the place of darkness.

²⁰That thou canst bring every thing to his borders, & understand the paths of the house thereof.

²¹Didst thou know then that thou shouldest be born? & didst thou know the number of thy days?

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

²³Which I have prepared for the time of the enemy, for the day of fight & battle?

²⁴What way is the light spread, is heat divided upon the earth?

²⁵Who gave course to the most vehement shower, and the way of the sounding thunder:

²⁶That it should rain upon the earth, without man in the desert, where no mortal man abideth:

²⁷That it should fill the desert and desolate ground, and should bring forth green grass?

²⁸Who is the father of rain? Or who begot the drops of dew?

²⁹Out of whose womb came forth ice? And frost from heaven who engendered?

³⁰Waters are hardened like stone, and the face of the depth is congealed.

³¹Shalt thou be able to join together the shining stars Pleiades, or canst thou dissipate the circuit of Arcturus?

³²Doest thou bring forth the day star in his time, & make the evening star to rise upon the children of the earth?

³³Doest thou know the order of heaven, and shalt thou put down the reason thereof on the earth?

³⁴Shalt thou elevate the voice in the cloud, & the violence of the waters cover thee?

³⁵Shalt thou send lightnings, and will they go, and returning shall they say to thee: Here we are?

³⁶Who put wisdom in the heart of man or who gave the cock understanding?

³⁷Who shall declare the manner of the heavens, and the harmony of heaven who shall make to sleep?

³⁸When was the dust poured on the earth, and the clods compact together?

³⁹Shalt thou take a prey for the lioness and fill the appetite of her whelps?

⁴⁰When they lie in the dens, & in holes sit in wait?

⁴¹Who prepareth for the raven her meat, when her young ones cry to God, wandering about, because they have not meat?