Job 38

God Challenges Job

1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm.

2 “Who is this that darkens My counsel with words without knowledge,

3 Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you will answer Me.”

God’s Power in Creation

4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation, Tell Me, if you understand.

5 Who marked off its dimensions, Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it,

6 On what were its bases set, or who laid its cornerstone.

7 While the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy,

8 Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst out from the womb,

9 When I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its blanket,

10 When I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place,

11 When I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves stop’?”

The Dawn and the Ends of the Earth

12 “Have you ever commanded the morning or shown the dawn its place,

13 That it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it,

14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like clothing.

15 The light is withheld from the wicked, and the arm raised in violence is broken.”

Mysteries Beyond Job’s Reach

16 “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep,

17 Have the gates of death been shown to you, Have you seen the gates of deep darkness,

18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth, Tell Me, if you know all this.

19 What is the way to where the light lives, Where does darkness reside,

20 Can you take them to their places, Do you know the paths to their homes,

21 Surely you know, since you were already born! You have lived so many years!”

Snow, Hail, and Storms

22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail,

23 Which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle,

24 What is the way to the place where the lightning is scattered, or where the east winds are spread out over the earth,

25 Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm,

26 To water a land where no one lives, an uninhabited desert,

27 To satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass,

Constellations and the Heavens

28 Does the rain have a father, Who fathers the drops of dew,

29 From whose womb comes the ice, Who gives birth to the frost of the heavens,

30 When the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen,

31 Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, Can you loosen Orion’s belt,

32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs,

33 Do you know the laws of the heavens, Can you set up God’s rule over the earth,

God’s Control of Weather and Animals

34 Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water,

35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way, Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’,

36 Who gives wisdom to the ibis or gives the rooster understanding,

37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds, Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens

38 When the dust becomes hard and the clods of earth stick together,

The Lion and the Raven

39 Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions,

40 When they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket,

41 Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?”