Job 38 — Legacy Standard Bible

Yahweh Answers Job

38Then Yahweh ^aanswered Job out of the ¹whirlwind and said,

²“Who is this that ^adarkens counselBy words without knowledge?³“Now ^agird up your loins like a man,And ^bI will ask you, and you make Me know!⁴“Where were you ^awhen I laid the foundation of the earth?Tell Me, if you know understanding,⁵Who set its ^ameasurements? Since you know.Or who stretched the line on it?⁶“On what ^awere its bases sunk?Or who laid its cornerstone,⁷When the morning stars sang togetherAnd all the ^asons of God shouted for joy?⁸“Or who ^aenclosed the sea with doorsWhen, bursting forth, it went out from the womb,⁹When I made a cloud its garmentAnd dense gloom its swaddling band,¹⁰And I ¹^,^aplaced boundaries on itAnd set a bolt and doors,¹¹And I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther;And here shall your proud waves stop’?

Yahweh Answers Job, “Have You?”

¹²“Have you ¹ever in your life commanded the morning,And caused the dawn to know its place,¹³That it might seize ^athe ends of the earth,And ^bthe wicked be shaken out of it?¹⁴“It is changed like clay under the seal;And they stand forth like clothing.¹⁵“^aFrom the wicked their light is withheld,And the arm ^braised high is broken.¹⁶“Have you entered into ^athe springs of the seaOr walked ¹in the recesses of the deep?¹⁷“Have the gates of death been revealed to you,Or have you seen the gates of the ^ashadow of death?¹⁸“Have you carefully considered the ¹expanse of ^athe earth?Tell Me, if you know all this.¹⁹“Where is the way to where the light dwells?And darkness, where is its place,²⁰That you may take it to ^aits territoryAnd that you may discern the paths to its ¹home?²¹“You know, for ^ayou were born then,And the number of your days is great!²²“Have you entered the storehouses ^aof the snow,Or have you seen the storehouses of the ^bhail,²³Which I have reserved for the time of distress,For the day of war and battle?²⁴“Where is the way that ^athe light is divided,Or the east wind scattered on the earth?²⁵“Who has cleft a conduit for the flood,Or a way for the thunderbolt,²⁶To bring ^arain on a land without ¹people,On a desert without a man in it,²⁷To ^asatisfy the waste and desolate landAnd to make the growth of grass to sprout?²⁸“Has ^athe rain a father?Or who has begotten the drops of dew?²⁹“From whose womb has come the ^aice?And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth?³⁰“Water ¹becomes hard like stone,And the surface of the deep ²is interlocked.³¹“Can you bind the chains of the ^aPleiades,Or loose the cords of Orion?³²“Can you lead forth a ¹constellation in its season,And guide the Bear with her ²satellites?³³“Do you know the ^astatutes of the heavens,Or fix their rule over the earth?³⁴“Can you raise your voice up to the clouds,So that an ^aabundance of water will cover you?³⁵“Can you ^asend forth lightnings that they may goAnd say to you, ‘Here we are’?³⁶“Who has ^agiven wisdom in the ¹innermost beingOr given ^bunderstanding to the ²mind?³⁷“Who can count the clouds by wisdom,Or ^atip the water jars of the heavens,³⁸When the dust hardens into a massAnd the clods stick together?

Yahweh Answers Job, “Where Were You?”

³⁹“Can you hunt the ^aprey for the lion,Or fulfill the appetite of the young lions,⁴⁰When they ^acrouch in their densAnd lie in wait in their lair?⁴¹“Who prepares for ^athe raven its provisionWhen its young cry for help to GodAnd wander about without food?