Job 38 — BSB
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The LORD Challenges Job
38Verse 1Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:Verse 2“Who is this who obscures My counselby words without knowledge?+Verse 3Now brace yourself+like a man;I will question you, and you shall inform Me.+Verse 4Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?Tell Me, if you have understanding.Verse 5Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know!Or who stretched a measuring line across it?Verse 6On what were its foundations set,or who laid its cornerstone,+Verse 7while the morning stars sang togetherand all the sons of God shouted for joy?Verse 8Who enclosed the sea behind doorswhen it burst forth from the womb,Verse 9when I made the clouds its garmentand thick darkness its blanket,Verse 10when I fixed its boundariesand set in place its bars and doors,Verse 11and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther;here your proud waves must stop’?Verse 12In your days, have you commanded the morningor assigned the dawn its place,Verse 13that it might spread to the ends of the earthand shake the wicked out of it?Verse 14The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.Verse 15Light is withheld from the wicked,and their upraised arm is broken.Verse 16Have you journeyed to the vents of the seaor walked in the trenches of the deep?Verse 17Have the gates of death been revealed to you?Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?Verse 18Have you surveyed the extent of the earth?Tell Me, if you know all this.Verse 19Where is the way to the home of light?Do you know where darkness resides,Verse 20so you can lead it back to its border?Do you know the paths to its home?Verse 21Surely you know, for you were already born!And the number of your days is great!Verse 22Have you entered the storehouses of snowor observed the storehouses of hail,Verse 23which I hold in reserve for times of trouble,for the day of war and battle?Verse 24In which direction is the lightning dispersed,or the east wind scattered over the earth?Verse 25Who cuts a channel for the floodor clears a path for the thunderbolt,Verse 26to bring rain on a barren land,on a desert where no man lives,Verse 27to satisfy the parched wastelandand make it sprout with tender grass?Verse 28Does the rain have a father?Who has begotten the drops of dew?Verse 29From whose womb does the ice emerge?Who gives birth to the frost from heaven,Verse 30when the waters become hard as stoneand the surface of the deep is frozen?Verse 31Can you bind the chains of the Pleiadesor loosen the belt of Orion?Verse 32Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons+or lead out the Bear+and her cubs?Verse 33Do you know the laws of the heavens?Can you set their dominion over the earth?Verse 34Can you command the cloudsso that a flood of water covers you?Verse 35Can you send the lightning bolts on their way?Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?Verse 36Who has put wisdom in the heart+or given understanding to the mind?Verse 37Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavensVerse 38when the dust hardens into a massand the clods of earth stick together?Verse 39Can you hunt the prey for a lionessor satisfy the hunger of young lionsVerse 40when they crouch in their densand lie in wait in the thicket?Verse 41Who provides food for the ravenwhen its young cry out to Godas they wander about for lack of food?