The LORD Speaks to Job

1The LORD responded to Job from the whirlwind and said:

2“Who is this who keeps darkening my counsel

without knowing what he’s talking about?

3Stand upa like a man!

I’ll ask you some questions,

and you give me some answers!”

On the Natural World

4“Where were you when I laid the foundation of my earth?

Tell me,b since you’re so informed!

5Who set its measurement? Am I to assume you know?

Who stretched a boundary line over it?

6On what were its bases set?

Who laid its corner stone

7while the morning stars sang together

and all the divine beingsc shouted joyfully?

8“Whod enclosed the sea with limitse

when it gushed out of the womb,

9when I made clouds to be its clothes

and thick darkness its swaddling blanket,

10when I proscribed a boundary for it,

set in place bars and doors for it;

11and said, ‘You may come only this far and no more.

Your majestic waves will stop here.’?

12“Have you ever commanded the morning at any time during your life?f

Do you know where the dawn lives,

13where it seizes the edge of the earth

and shakes the wicked out of it?

14Like clay is molded by a signet ring,

the earth’s hills and valleysg then stand out

like the colors of a garment.

15Then from the wicked their light is withheld

and their upraised arm is broken.

16“Have you been to the source of the sea

and walked about in the recesses of the deepest ocean?

17Have the gates of death been revealed to you?

Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?

18Do you understand the breadth of the earth?

Tell me, since you know it all!

19“Where is the road to where the light lives?

Or where does the darkness live?

20Can you take it to its homeland,

since you know the path to his house?

21You should know! After all, you had been born back then,

so the number of your days is great!

22“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow

or seen where the hail is stored,

23which I’ve reserved for the tribulation to come,

for the day of battle and war?

24Where is the lightning diffused

or the east wind scattered around the earth?

25“Who cuts canals for storm floods,

and paths for the lightning and thunder,

26to bring rain upon a land without inhabitants,

a desert in which no human beings live,

27to satisfy a desolate and devastated desert,

causing it to sprout vegetation?

28“Does the rain have a father?

Who fathered the dew?

29Whose womb brings forth the ice?

Who gives birth to frost out of an emptyh sky,

30when water solidifiesi like stone

and the surface of the deepest sea freezes?

On the Heavens

31“Can you bind the chains of Pleiades

or loosen the cords of Orion?

32Can you bring out constellations in their season?

Can you guide the Bear with her cubs?

33Do you know the laws of the heavens?

Can you regulate their authority over the earth?

34“Can you call out to the clouds,

so that abundant water drenches you?

35Can you command the lightning,

so that it goes forth and calls to you, ‘Look at us!’j

36“Who sets wisdom within you,

or imbues your mind with understanding?

37Who has the wisdom to be able to count the clouds,

or to emptyk the water jars of heaven,

38when dust dries into a mass

and then breaks apart into clods?

On the Animal World

39“Can you hunt prey for the lioness

to satisfy young lions

40when they crouch in their dens

and lie in ambush in their lairs?

41Who prepares food for the raven,

when its offspring cry out to God

as they wander for lack of food?”