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The Book of Job

  Chapter 38  

38:1 Then the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind, and said:

38:2 Who is this that wrappeth up sentences in unskilful words?

38:3 Gird up thy loins like a man: I will ask thee, and answer thou me.

38:4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? tell me if thou hast understanding.

38:5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest or who hath stretched the line upon it?

38:6 Upon what are its bases grounded? or who laid the corner stone thereof,

38:7 When the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody?

38:8 Who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth as issuing out of the womb:

38:9 When I made a cloud the garment thereof, and wrapped it in a mist as in swaddling bands?

38:10 I set my bounds around it, and made it bars and doors:

38:11 And I said: Hitherto thou shalt come, and shalt go no further, and here thou shalt break thy swelling waves.

38:12 Didst thou since thy birth command the morning, and shew the dawning of the day its place?

38:13 And didst thou hold the extremities of the earth shaking them, and hast thou shaken the ungodly out of it?

38:14 The seal shall be restored as clay, and shall stand as a garment.

38:15 From the wicked their light shall be taken away, and the high arm shall be broken.

38:16 Hast thou entered into the depths of the sea, and walked in the lowest parts of the deep?

38:17 Have the gates of death been opened to thee, and hast thou seen the darksome doors?

38:18 Hast thou considered the breadth of the earth? tell me, if thou knowest all things?

38:19 Where is the way where light dwelleth, and where is the place of darkness?

38:20 That thou mayst bring every thing to its own bounds, and understand the paths of the house thereof.

38:21 Didst thou know then that thou shouldst be born? and didst thou know the number of thy days?

38:22 Hast thou entered into the storehouses of the snow, or hast thou beheld the treasures of the hail:

38:23 Which I have prepared for the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war?

38:24 By what way is the light spread, and heat divided upon the earth?

38:25 Who gave a course to violent showers, or a way for noisy thunder:

38:26 That it should rain on the earth without man in the wilderness, where no mortal dwelleth:

38:27 That it should fill the desert and desolate land, and should bring forth green grass?

38:28 Who is the father of rain? or who begot the drops of dew?

38:29 Out of whose womb came the ice? and the frost from heaven who hath gendered it?

38:30 The waters are hardened like a stone, and the surface of the deep is congealed.

38:31 Shalt thou be able to join together the shining stars the Pleiades, or canst thou stop the turning about of Arcturus?

38:32 Canst thou bring forth the day star in its time, and make the evening star to rise upon the children of the earth?

38:33 Dost thou know the order of heaven, and canst thou set down the reason thereof on the earth?

38:34 Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that an abundance of waters may cover thee?

38:35 Canst thou send lightnings, and will they go, and will they return and say to thee: Here we are?

38:36 Who hath put wisdom in the heart of man? or who gave the cock understanding?

38:37 Who can declare the order of the heavens, or who can make the harmony of heaven to sleep?

38:38 When was the dust poured on the earth, and the clods fastened together?

38:39 Wilt thou take the prey for the lioness, and satisfy the appetite of her whelps,

38:40 When they couch in the dens and lie in wait in holes?

38:41 Who provideth food for the raven, when her young ones cry to God, wandering about, because they have no meat?