God Challenges Job

1Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind,

2"Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

3Brace yourself like a man, for I will question you, then you answer me!

4"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding.

5Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it?

6Whereupon were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone,

7when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8"Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth from the womb,

9when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness,

10marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors,

11and said, 'Here you may come, but no further. Here your proud waves shall be stayed?'

12"Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place;

13that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it?

14It is changed as clay under the seal, and stands forth as a garment.

15From the wicked, their light is withheld. The high arm is broken.

16"Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?

17Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

18Have you comprehended the earth in its breadth? Declare, if you know it all.

19"What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place,

20that you should take it to its bound, that you should discern the paths to its house?

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

22Have you entered the treasuries of the snow, or have you seen the treasures of the hail,

23which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?

24By what way is the lightning distributed, or the east wind scattered on the earth?

25Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm;

26To cause it to rain on a land where no man is; on the wilderness, in which there is no man;

27to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to spring forth?

28Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew?

29Out of whose womb came the ice? The gray frost of the sky, who has given birth to it?

30The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen.

31"Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?

32Can you lead forth the constellations in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs?

33Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish its dominion over the earth?

34"Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That abundance of waters may cover you?

35Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, 'Here we are?'

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

37Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of the sky,

38when the dust runs into a mass, and the clods of earth stick together?

39"Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

40when they crouch in their dens, and lie in wait in the thicket?

41Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?