God’s questions to Job

4 “Where were you

when I laid the foundation of the earth?

Tell me, if you possess understanding!

5 Who set its measurements – if you know –

or who stretched a measuring line across it?

6 On what were its bases set,

or who laid its cornerstone –

7 when the morning stars sang in chorus,

and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8 “Who shut up the sea with doors

when it burst forth, coming out of the womb,

9 when I made the storm clouds its garment,

and thick darkness its swaddling band,

10 when I prescribed its limits,

and set in place its bolts and doors,

11 when I said, ‘To here you may come

and no farther,

here your proud waves will be confined’?

12 Have you ever in your life commanded the morning,

or made the dawn know its place,

13 that it might seize the corners of the earth,

and shake the wicked out of it?

14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;

its features are dyed like a garment.

15 Then from the wicked the light is withheld,

and the arm raised in violence is broken.

16 Have you gone to the springs that fill the sea,

or walked about in the recesses of the deep?

17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you?

Have you seen the gates of deepest darkness?

18 Have you considered the vast expanses of the earth?

Tell me, if you know it all!

19 “In what direction does light reside,

and darkness, where is its place,

20 that you may take them to their borders

and perceive the pathways to their homes?

21 You know, for you were born before them;

and the number of your days is great!

22 Have you entered the storehouse of the snow,

or seen the armory of the hail,

23 which I reserve for the time of trouble,

for the day of war and battle?

24 In what direction is lightning dispersed,

or the east winds scattered over the earth?

25 Who carves out a channel for the heavy rains,

and a path for the rumble of thunder,

26 to cause it to rain on an uninhabited land,

a desert where there are no human beings,

27 to satisfy a devastated and desolate land,

and to cause it to sprout with vegetation?

28 Does the rain have a father,

or who has fathered the drops of the dew?

29 From whose womb does the ice emerge,

and the frost from the sky, who gives birth to it,

30 when the waters become hard like stone,

when the surface of the deep is frozen solid?

31 Can you tie the bands of the Pleiades,

or release the cords of Orion?

32 Can you lead out

the constellations in their seasons,

or guide the Bear with its cubs?

33 Do you know the laws of the heavens,

or can you set up their rule over the earth?

34 Can you raise your voice to the clouds

so that a flood of water covers you?

35 Can you send out lightning bolts, and they go?

Will they say to you, ‘Here we are’?

36 Who has put wisdom in the heart,

or has imparted understanding to the mind?

37 Who by wisdom can count the clouds,

and who can tip over the water jars of heaven,

38 when the dust hardens into a mass,

and the clumps of earth stick together?

39 “Do you hunt prey for the lioness,

and satisfy the appetite of the lions,

40 when they crouch in their dens,

when they wait in ambush in the thicket?

41 Who prepares prey for the raven,

when its young cry out to God

and wander about for lack of food?

39 “Are you acquainted with the way

the mountain goats give birth?

Do you watch as the wild deer give birth to their young?

2 Do you count the months they must fulfill,

and do you know the time they give birth?

3 They crouch, they bear their young,

they bring forth the offspring they have carried.

4 Their young grow strong, and grow up in the open;

they go off, and do not return to them.

5 Who let the wild donkey go free?

Who released the bonds of the donkey,

6 to whom I appointed the steppe for its home,

the salt wastes as its dwelling place?

7 It scorns the tumult in the town;

it does not hear the shouts of a driver.

8 It ranges the hills as its pasture,

and searches after every green plant.

9 Is the wild ox willing to be your servant?

Will it spend the night at your feeding trough?

10 Can you bind the wild ox to a furrow with its rope,

will it till the valleys, following after you?

11 Will you rely on it because its strength is great?

Will you commit your labor to it?

12 Can you count on it to bring in your grain,

and gather the grain to your threshing floor?

13 

“The wings of the ostrich flap with joy,

but are they the pinions and plumage of a stork?

14 For she leaves her eggs on the ground,

and lets them be warmed on the soil.

15 She forgets that a foot might crush them,

or that a wild animal might trample them.

16 She is harsh with her young,

as if they were not hers;

she is unconcerned

about the uselessness of her labor.

17 For God deprived her of wisdom,

and did not impart understanding to her.

18 But as soon as she springs up,

she laughs at the horse and its rider.

19 “Do you give the horse its strength?

Do you clothe its neck with a mane?

20 Do you make it leap like a locust?

Its proud neighing is terrifying!

21 It paws the ground in the valley,

exulting mightily,

it goes out to meet the weapons.

22 It laughs at fear and is not dismayed;

it does not shy away from the sword.

23 On it the quiver rattles;

the lance and javelin flash.

24 In excitement and impatience it consumes the ground;

it cannot stand still when the trumpet is blown.

25 At the sound of the trumpet, it says, ‘Aha!’

And from a distance it catches the scent of battle,

the thunderous shouting of commanders,

and the battle cries.

26 “Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars,

and spreads its wings toward the south?

27 Is it at your command that the eagle soars,

and builds its nest on high?

28 It lives on a rock and spends the night there,

on a rocky crag and a fortress.

29 From there it spots its prey,

its eyes gaze intently from a distance.

30 And its young ones devour the blood,

and where the dead carcasses are,

there it is.”

40 Then the Lord answered Job:

2 “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?

Let the person who accuses God give him an answer!”

3 Then Job answered the Lord:

4 “Indeed, I am completely unworthy – how could I reply to you?

I put my hand over my mouth to silence myself.

5 I have spoken once, but I cannot answer;

twice, but I will say no more.”