1Then spake Jehovah to Job out of the whirlwind, and said:
2Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
3Gird up thy loins like a man! I will ask thee, and answer thou me!
4Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding!
5Who fixed its dimensions, that thou shouldst know it! Or who stretched out the line upon it?
6Upon what were its foundations fixed? And who laid its corner-stone,
7When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8And who shut up the sea with doors, When it burst forth as from the womb?
9When I made the clouds its mantle, And thick darkness its swaddling-band;
10When I appointed for it my bound, And fixed for it bars and doors;
11And said, Thus far shalt thou come, and no farther, And here shall thy proud waves be stayed!
12Hast thou, in thy life, given charge to the morning, Or caused the day-spring to know its place,
13That it should lay hold of the ends of the earth, And shake the wicked out of it?
14It is changed as clay by the seal; And all things stand forth as in rich apparel.
15But from the wicked their light is withheld, And the high-raised arm is broken.
16Hast thou visited the springs of the sea, And walked through the recesses of the deep?
17Have the gates of death been disclosed to thee, And hast thou seen the gates of the shadow of death?
18Hast thou surveyed the breadth of the earth? Declare, if thou knowest it all!
19Where is the way to the abode of light? And darkness—where is its dwelling-place?
20That thou shouldst lead it to its boundary, And that thou shouldst know the paths to its mansion!
21Surely thou knowest; for thou wast then born! And the number of thy years is great!
22Hast thou visited the storehouses of the snow, Or seen the treasuries of the hail,
23Which I have reserved against the time of trouble,—Against the day of battle and war?
24What is the way to where light is distributed, And the east wind spread abroad upon the earth?
25Who hath prepared channels for the rain, And a path for the thunder-flash,
26To give rain to the land without an inhabitant, To the wilderness wherein is no man;
27To satisfy the desolate and waste ground, And cause the tender herb to spring forth?
28Hath the rain a father? Or who hath begotten the drops of the dew?
29Out of whose womb came the ice? And who hath gendered the hoar-frost of heaven?
30The waters are hid as under stone, And the face of the deep becometh solid.
31Canst thou fasten the bands of the Pleiades, Or loosen the chains of Orion?
32Canst thou lead forth the Signs in their season, Or guide the Bear with her sons?
33Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens? Hast thou appointed their dominion over the earth?
34Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, So that abundance of waters will cover thee?
35Canst thou send forth lightnings, so that they will go, And say to thee, “Here we are”?
36Who hath put understanding in the reins, And given intelligence to the mind?
37Who numbereth the clouds in wisdom? And who poureth out the bottles of heaven,
38When the dust floweth into a molten mass, And the clods cleave fast together?
39Canst thou hunt prey for the lioness, Or satisfy the hunger of the young lions,
40When they couch in their dens, And lie in wait in the thicket?
41Who provideth for the raven his food, When his young ones cry unto God, While they wander about without food?