38:1  Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind:

38:2  "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

38:3  Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me.

38:4  "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

38:5  Who determined its measurements--surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?

38:6  On what were its bases sunk, 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 in the sea with doors, when it burst forth from the womb;

38:9  when I made clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band,

38:10  and prescribed bounds for it, and set bars and doors,

38:11  and said, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed'?

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 skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?

38:14  It is changed like clay under the seal, and it is dyed like a garment.

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

38:16  "Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?

38:17  Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

38:18  Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.

38:19  "Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness,

38:20  that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home?

38:21  You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!

38:22  "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

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

38:24  What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?

38:25  "Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain, and a way for the thunderbolt,

38:26  to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man;

38:27  to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground put forth grass?

38:28  "Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew?

38:29  From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven?

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

38:31  "Can you bind the chains of the Plei'ades, or loose the cords of Orion?

38:32  Can you lead forth the Maz'zaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children?

38:33  Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?

38:34  "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you?

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

38:36  Who has put wisdom in the clouds, or given understanding to the mists?

38:37  Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,

38:38  when the dust runs into a mass and the clods cleave fast together?

38:39  "Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

38:40  when they crouch in their dens, or lie in wait in their covert?

38:41  Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of