Job 37-38

Job 37

¹At this my heart is shaking; it is moved out of its place.

²Give ear to the rolling noise of his voice; to the hollow sound which goes out of his mouth.

³He sends it out through all the heaven, and his thunder-flame to the ends of the earth.

⁴After it a voice is sounding, thundering out the word of his power; he does not keep back his thunder-flames; from his mouth his voice is sounding.

⁵He does wonders, more than may be searched out; great things of which we have no knowledge;

⁶For he says to the snow, Make the earth wet; and to the rain-storm, Come down.

⁷He puts an end to the work of every man, so that all may see his work.

⁸Then the beasts go into their holes, and take their rest.

⁹Out of its place comes the storm-wind, and the cold out of its store-houses.

¹⁰By the breath of God ice is made, and the wide waters are shut in.

¹¹The thick cloud is weighted with thunder-flame, and the cloud sends out its light;

¹²And it goes this way and that, round about, turning itself by his guiding, to do whatever he gives orders to be done, on the face of his world of men,

¹³For a rod, or for a curse, or for mercy, causing it to come on the mark.

¹⁴Give ear to this, O Job, and keep quiet in your place; and take note of the wonders worked by God.

¹⁵Have you knowledge of God's ordering of his works, how he makes the light of his cloud to be seen?

¹⁶Have you knowledge of the balancings of the clouds, the wonders of him who has all wisdom?

¹⁷You, whose clothing is warm, when the earth is quiet because of the south wind,

¹⁸Will you, with him, make the skies smooth, and strong as a polished looking-glass?

¹⁹Make clear to me what we are to say to him; we are unable to put our cause before him, because of the dark.

²⁰How may he have knowledge of my desire for talk with him? or did any man ever say, May destruction come on me?

²¹And now the light is not seen, for it is dark because of the clouds; but a wind comes, clearing them away.

²²A bright light comes out of the north; God's glory is greatly to be feared.

²³There is no searching out of the Ruler of all: his strength and his judging are great; he is full of righteousness, doing no wrong.

²⁴For this cause men go in fear of him; he has no respect for any who are wise in heart.

Job 38

¹And the Lord made answer to Job out of the storm-wind, and said,

²Who is this who makes the purpose of God dark by words without knowledge?

³Get your strength together like a man of war; I will put questions to you, and you will give me the answers.

⁴Where were you when I put the earth on its base? Say, if you have knowledge.

⁵By whom were its measures fixed? Say, if you have wisdom; or by whom was the line stretched out over it?

⁶On what were its pillars based, or who put down its angle-stone,

⁷When the morning stars made songs together, and all the sons of the gods gave cries of joy?

⁸Or where were you when the sea came to birth, pushing out from its secret place;

⁹When I made the cloud its robe, and put thick clouds as bands round it,

¹⁰Ordering a fixed limit for it, with locks and doors;

¹¹And said, So far you may come, and no farther; and here the pride of your waves will be stopped?

¹²Have you, from your earliest days, given orders to the morning, or made the dawn conscious of its place;

¹³So that it might take a grip of the skirts of the earth, shaking all the evil-doers out of it?

¹⁴It is changed like wet earth under a stamp, and is coloured like a robe;

¹⁵And from the evil-doers their light is kept back, and the arm of pride is broken.

¹⁶Have you come into the springs of the sea, walking in the secret places of the deep?

¹⁷Have the doors of death been open to you, or have the door-keepers of the dark ever seen you?

¹⁸Have you taken note of the wide limits of the earth? Say, if you have knowledge of it all.

¹⁹Which is the way to the resting-place of the light, and where is the store-house of the dark;

²⁰So that you might take it to its limit, guiding it to its house?

²¹No doubt you have knowledge of it, for then you had come to birth, and the number of your days is great.

²²Have you come into the secret place of snow, or have you seen the store-houses of the ice-drops,

²³Which I have kept for the time of trouble, for the day of war and fighting?

²⁴Which is the way to the place where the wind is measured out, and the east wind sent out over the earth?

²⁵By whom has the way been cut for the flowing of the rain, and the flaming of the thunder;

²⁶Causing rain to come on a land where no man is living, on the waste land which has no people;

²⁷To give water to the land where there is waste and destruction, and to make the dry land green with young grass?

²⁸Has the rain a father? or who gave birth to the drops of night mist?

²⁹Out of whose body came the ice? and who gave birth to the cold mist of heaven?

³⁰The waters are joined together, hard as a stone, and the face of the deep is covered.

³¹Are the bands of the Pleiades fixed by you, or are the cords of Orion made loose?

³²Do you make Mazzaroth come out in its right time, or are the Bear and its children guided by you?

³³Have you knowledge of the laws of the heavens? did you give them rule over the earth?

³⁴Is your voice sent up to the cloud, so that you may be covered by the weight of waters?

³⁵Do you send out the thunder-flames, so that they may go, and say to you, Here we are?

³⁶Who has put wisdom in the high clouds, or given knowledge to the lights of the north?

³⁷By whose wisdom are the clouds numbered, or the water-skins of the heavens turned to the earth,

³⁸When the earth becomes hard as metal, and is joined together in masses?

³⁹Do you go after food for the she-lion, or get meat so that the young lions may have enough,

⁴⁰When they are stretched out in their holes, and are waiting in the brushwood?

⁴¹Who gives in the evening the meat he is searching for, when his young ones are crying to God; when the young lions with loud noise go wandering after their food?