38 Then Yahweh answered Iyyov from the storm:

2 Who is this giving bad advice,

with words that are lacking knowledge?

3 Get ready to battle[fn]like a man,

and I’ll question you and you can answer me.

4 Where were you when I laid the world’s foundations?

Do tell me, if you understand that.

5 Who decided on it’s measurements, if you know?

≈Or who stretched out a tape measure over it?

6 What were its footings attached to?

≈Who put its reference stone in place

7 when the morning stars sung together,

≈and God’s children shouted happily?

8 Who was the one who confined the ocean with gates[ref]

when it burst its way out from the womb?

9 I covered it with clouds as its clothing,

≈and thick darkness as its tight blanket.

10 I assigned my boundaries for the ocean,

and put a latch on its gates,

11 and I said, ‘You can only come this far and no further.

≈Your proud waves will be stopped here.’

12 In all your life, have you ever commanded the morning to come,

≈or helped the dawn to know its place

13 so that it might take hold of the bottom edges of the earth

and shake the wicked out of it?[fn]

14 After dawn, the earth takes shape like clay when a seal is pressed into it,

and its features stand out like folds in a cloak.

15 Their light is withheld from wicked people,

and their arm raised in violence gets broken.

16 Have you visited the springs under the sea?

≈Have you walked around in the trenches of the deep ocean?

17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you?

≈Have you seen the gates that open into deep darkness?

18 Have you taken note of the width of the earth?

Do tell me if you know all those things.

19 How do you get to where light lives,

≈and where is the place that darkness comes from?

20 Can you take it to its territory,

≈and how would you figure out the paths to its house?

21 You’d know because surely you were born before then, ☺

≈and you’re so very, very old. ☺

22 Have you entered the warehouses where snow is stored,

≈and have you seen the bunker where hail is kept,

23 which I keep there ready for troubled times—

≈for the day of war and battle?

24 Where’s the way to find where light is distributed,

≈or where the east wind gets scattered all over the earth?

25 Who cuts out the channels for the downpours to flow in,

≈and makes the path for thunderbolts?

26 Who sends rain to regions where nobody lives,

≈or to a wilderness that has nobody in it,

27 to satisfy the parched wasteland

and to cause fresh grass to shoot up?

28 Does the rain have a father,

≈or who gave birth to the dew drops?

29 ≈Whose womb does the ice come from,

≈and who gives birth to the frost that descends from the sky,

30 when the waters become hard like stone,

≈and the surface of the deep ocean freezes?

31 Can you tie together the stars of Pleiades,[ref]

≈or loosen Orion’s belt?

32 Can you lead each constellation out in its season,

≈and can you guide the Bear with her cubs?

33 Do you understand the physical laws of the universe,

≈or can you establish their rule over the earth?

34 Can you command the clouds with your voice,

≈and cause a flood of water to cover you?

35 Can you send out flashes of lightning,

so they go off then tell you, ‘Here we are’?

36 Who put wisdom into people’s minds,

≈or can give understanding to the mind?

37 Who has enough wisdom to number the clouds,

≈and who will tip over the water jars of the sky

38 when the dust solidifies into a lump,

≈and the clods of soil stick together?

39 Can you hunt for prey for the lionness,

and satisfy the appetite of her cubs,

40 when they crouch in their dens—

≈lying in wait in the thicket?

41 Who prepares prey for the raven

when its chicks cry out to God for help,

when they stagger around for lack of food?

39 Do you know when it is that mountain goats give birth?

≈Do you watch the wild does having their fawns?

2 Have you counted how many months it’ll be after they conceived?

Do you know what date they’ll give birth?

3 They crouch down to deliver their young,

≈and then their labour pains are over.

4 Their young grow up in the countryside and become strong,

≈then they leave their mothers and don’t return to them again.

5 Who set the wild donkeys free?

≈Who untied the ropes of the wild mule?

6 I decided that the wilderness would be their home,

≈and the salt-land to be where they live.

7 They laugh at the commotion coming from the city.

They don’t have any drivers shouting at them.

8 They range across the hills looking for pasture,

≈and search after anything that’s green.

9 Will the wild cow consent to serve you,

≈or to stay the night beside your feeding trough?

10 Will you use a rope to guide the wild bull to plough straight,

≈or will he come along afterwards to harrow over the furrows?

11 Would you trust in his strength,

and leave your work for him to do?

12 Would you depend on the wild bull to bring in your grain,

and to pile it on your threshing floor?

13 Ostriches happily flap their wings,

but unlike the stork, their joints and feathers aren’t made for flying.

14 The female leaves her eggs on the ground.

≈They’re kept warm in the dust.

15 She forgets that they might be crushed by a foot,

≈or be trampled by wild animals.

16 She’s harsh on her young as if they’re not hers,

≈without worrying that her egg-laying might all be wasted.

17 Yes, God didn’t give her much wisdom,

≈and he didn’t fill her with much understanding.

18 But it doesn’t stop her flapping her wings.

She laughs at the horse and its rider.

19 Was it you who gave the horse his strength?

Did you clothe his neck with that mane?

20 Did you make him so he can leap like a locust?

His powerful snorting is terrifying.

21 They paw at the ground, excited to go and display their strength.

Off they go to face the enemy’s weapons.

22 It laughs at fear—not afraid at all,

and it doesn’t retreat back from the sword.

23 The quiver of arrows rattles on its side.

≈The spear and the javelin flash.

24 Shaking with excitement, it speeds over.

≈It can’t stand still once the horn is sounded.

25 When it hears the horn, it snorts ready to go,

and it smells the battle from far away—

the shouts of the commanders and the battle-cries.

26 Is it your wisdom that the hawk uses to soar,

≈and why it spreads its wings to migrate south?

27 Is it your command that sends the eagle flying upwards,

≈and tells it to build it nest up so high?

28 It lives on a cliff,

≈and spends the night in its fortress among the sharp rocks.

29 From there, it spies out food.

≈Its eyes watch from far away.

30 Its young ones feast on blood,[ref]

and where there’s dead bodies, they’ll be there.