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  Now gird up your loins like a man; for I will demand of you, and you shall answer Me.

38:4  Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare it, if you have understanding!

38:5  Who has determined its measurements, if you know? Or who has stretched the line upon it?

38:6  On what are the foundations fastened to? 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 up the sea with doors, when it broke forth as it came from the womb?

38:9  When I made the clouds its robe, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it,

38:10  And prescribed My limit on it, and set bars and doors,

38:11  And I said, 'You shall come to here, but no further; and here your proud waves shall stop.'

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 ends of the earth; that the wicked might be shaken out of it?

38:14  It is changed like clay under a seal; and they stand forth like a garment.

38:15  But from the wicked their light is withheld, and the uplifted arm is broken.

38:16  Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in search of the depths?

38:17  Have the gates of death been opened to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

38:18  Have you surveyed the breadth of the earth? Declare it, if you know it all!

38:19  Where is the way where light dwells? And as for darkness, where is the place thereof,

38:20  That you should take it to its boundary, and that you should know the paths to its home?

38:21  Do you know it, because you were then born? Or are the number of your days great?

38:22  Have you entered into the treasures of the snow? Or have you seen the treasures of the hail,

38:23  Which I have reserved for the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?

38:24  By what way is the light distributed, and how does the east wind spread itself upon the earth?

38:25  Who has cut a channel for the overflowing of waters, or a pathway for the thunderbolts;

38:26  To cause rain to fall upon the earth where no man is, a wilderness and no man in it;

38:27  To satisfy the desolate and waste ground, and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?

38:28  Has the rain a father? Or who has brought forth the drops of dew?

38:29  Out of whose womb came the ice? And the frost of the heavens, who engendered it?

38:30  The waters are hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

38:31  Can you bind the bands of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?

38:32  Can you bring the constellations in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with its sons?

38:33  Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you set up their dominion on the earth?

38:34  Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that floods of waters may cover you?

38:35  Can you send lightnings, that they may go, and say to you, 'Here we are?'

38:36  Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind?

38:37  Who can number the clouds by wisdom; or who can pour out the bottles of the heavens,

38:38  When the dust is melted into hardness, and the clods cling fast together?

38:39  Will you hunt the prey for the lion, or fill the appetite of the young lions,

38:40  When they crouch in dens, and sit in the cover of their hiding place?

38:41  Who provides food for the raven, when its young ones cry to God and wander about without food?"