The Lord Answers Job

1Then out of the storm the Lord spoke to Job.

The Lord

2Who are you to question my wisdom

with your ignorant, empty words?

3Now stand up straight

and answer the questions I ask you.

4Were you there when I made the world?

If you know so much, tell me about it.

5Who decided how large it would be?

Who stretched the measuring line over it?

Do you know all the answers?

6What holds up the pillars that support the earth?

Who laid the cornerstone of the world?

7 In the dawn of that day the stars sang together,

and the heavenly beings+ shouted for joy.

8 Who closed the gates to hold back the sea+

when it burst from the womb of the earth?

9It was I who covered the sea with clouds

and wrapped it in darkness.

10I marked a boundary for the sea

and kept it behind bolted gates.

11I told it, “So far and no farther!

Here your powerful waves must stop.”

12Job, have you ever in all your life

commanded a day to dawn?

13Have you ordered the dawn to seize the earth

and shake the wicked from their hiding places?

14Daylight makes the hills and valleys stand out

like the folds of a garment,

clear as the imprint of a seal on clay.

15The light of day is too bright for the wicked

and restrains them from doing violence.

16Have you been to the springs in the depths of the sea?

Have you walked on the floor of the ocean?

17Has anyone ever shown you the gates

that guard the dark world of the dead?

18Have you any idea how big the world is?

Answer me if you know.

19Do you know where the light comes from

or what the source of darkness is?

20Can you show them how far to go,

or send them back again?

21I am sure you can, because you're so old

and were there when the world was made!

22Have you ever visited the storerooms,

where I keep the snow and the hail?

23I keep them ready for times of trouble,

for days of battle and war.

24Have you been to the place where the sun comes up,

or the place from which the east wind blows?

25Who dug a channel for the pouring rain

and cleared the way for the thunderstorm?

26Who makes rain fall where no one lives?

27Who waters the dry and thirsty land,

so that grass springs up?

28Does either the rain or the dew have a father?

29Who is the mother of the ice and the frost,

30which turn the waters to stone

and freeze the face of the sea?

31 Can you tie the Pleiades together

or loosen the bonds that hold Orion?

32Can you guide the stars season by season

and direct the Big and the Little Dipper?

33Do you know the laws that govern the skies,

and can you make them apply to the earth?

34Can you shout orders to the clouds

and make them drench you with rain?

35And if you command the lightning to flash,

will it come to you and say, “At your service”?

36Who tells the ibis+ when the Nile will flood,

or who tells the rooster that rain will fall?+

37Who is wise enough to count the clouds

and tilt them over to pour out the rain,

38rain that hardens the dust into lumps?

39Do you find food for lions to eat,

and satisfy hungry young lions

40when they hide in their caves,

or lie in wait in their dens?

41Who is it that feeds the ravens

when they wander about hungry,

when their young cry to me for food?