Chapter 38

  Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind,  

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  'Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge?  

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

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

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

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  Whereupon were the foundations of it fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone,  

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  When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?  

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  'Or who shut up the sea with doors, When it broke forth from the womb,  

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  When I made clouds the garment of it, Thick darkness a swaddling-band for it,  

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  Marked out for it my bound, Set bars and doors,  

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  And said, 'Here you may come, but no further; Here shall your proud waves be stayed?'  

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  'Have you commanded the morning in your days, And caused the dawn to know its place;  

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  That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, And shake the wicked out of it?  

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

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

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

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

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

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  'What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is the place of it,  

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  That you should take it to the bound of it, That you should discern the paths to the house of it?  

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

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

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  Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, Against the day of battle and war?  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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  'Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, Or loosen the cords of Orion?  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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  When the dust runs into a mass, And the clods of earth stick together?  

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  'Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,  

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  When they crouch in their dens, And lie in wait in the thicket?  

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  Who provides for the raven his prey, When his young ones cry to God, And wander for lack of food?  

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