| Chapter 38 |
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Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind, |
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"Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge? |
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Brace yourself like a man, For I will question you, then you answer me! |
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"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding. |
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Who determined the measures of it, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it? |
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Whereupon were the foundations of it fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, |
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When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy? |
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"Or who shut up the sea with doors, When it broke forth from the womb, |
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When I made clouds the garment of it, Thick darkness a swaddling-band for it, |
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Marked out for it my bound, Set bars and doors, |
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And said, `Here you may come, but no further; Here shall your proud waves be stayed?` |
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"Have you commanded the morning in your days, And caused the dawn to know its place; |
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That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, And shake the wicked out of it? |
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It is changed as clay under the seal, And stands forth as a garment. |
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From the wicked, their light is withheld, The high arm is broken. |
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"Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep? |
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Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? |
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Have you comprehended the earth in its breadth? Declare, if you know it all. |
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"What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is the place of it, |
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That you should take it to the bound of it, That you should discern the paths to the house of it? |
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Surely you know, for you were born then, And the number of your days is great! |
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Have you entered the treasuries of the snow, Or have you seen the treasures of the hail, |
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Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, Against the day of battle and war? |
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By what way is the lightning distributed, Or the east wind scattered on the earth? |
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Who has cut a channel for the flood water, Or the path for the thunderstorm; |
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To cause it to rain on a land where no man is; On the wilderness, in which there is no man; |
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To satisfy the waste and desolate ground, To cause the tender grass to spring forth? |
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Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew? |
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Out of whose womb came the ice? The gray frost of the sky, who has given birth to it? |
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The waters become hard like stone, When the surface of the deep is frozen. |
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"Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, Or loosen the cords of Orion? |
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Can you lead forth the constellations in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs? |
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Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish the dominion of it over the earth? |
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"Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That abundance of waters may cover you? |
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Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, `Here we are?` |
36 |
Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind? |
37 |
Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of the sky, |
38 |
When the dust runs into a mass, And the clods of earth stick together? |
39 |
"Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, |
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When they crouch in their dens, And lie in wait in the thicket? |
41 |
Who provides for the raven his prey, When his young ones cry to God, And wander for lack of food? |