Job 38, side by side

¹Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

¹Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,

²“Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge?

²Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

³Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me.

³Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.

⁴Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.

⁴Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

⁵Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched a measuring line across it?

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

⁶On what were its foundations set, or who laid its cornerstone,

⁶Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;

⁷while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

⁷When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,

⁸Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?

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

⁹When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,

¹⁰when I fixed its boundaries and set in place its bars and doors,

¹⁰And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,

¹¹and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther; here your proud waves must stop’?

¹¹And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?

¹²In your days, have you commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place,

¹²Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;

¹³that it might spread to the ends of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?

¹³That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?

¹⁴The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.

¹⁴It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.

¹⁵Light is withheld from the wicked, and their upraised arm is broken.

¹⁵And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.

¹⁶Have you journeyed to the vents of the sea or walked in the trenches of the deep?

¹⁶Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?

¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

¹⁷Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?

¹⁸Have you surveyed the extent of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.

¹⁸Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all.

¹⁹Where is the way to the home of light? Do you know where darkness resides,

¹⁹Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof,

²⁰so you can lead it back to its border? Do you know the paths to its home?

²⁰That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?

²¹Surely you know, for you were already born! And the number of your days is great!

²¹Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great?

²²Have you entered the storehouses of snow or observed the storehouses of hail,

²²Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,

²³which I hold in reserve for times of trouble, for the day of war and battle?

²³Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?

²⁴In which direction is the lightning dispersed, or the east wind scattered over the earth?

²⁴By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?

²⁵Who cuts a channel for the flood or clears a path for the thunderbolt,

²⁵Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;

²⁶to bring rain on a barren land, on a desert where no man lives,

²⁶To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;

²⁷to satisfy the parched wasteland and make it sprout with tender grass?

²⁷To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?

²⁸Does the rain have a father? Who has begotten the drops of dew?

²⁸Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?

²⁹From whose womb does the ice emerge? Who gives birth to the frost from heaven,

²⁹Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?

³⁰when the waters become hard as stone and the surface of the deep is frozen?

³⁰The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

³¹Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion?

³¹Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?

³²Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear and her cubs?

³²Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?

³³Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth?

³³Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?

³⁴Can you command the clouds so that a flood of water covers you?

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

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

³⁵Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?

³⁶Who has put wisdom in the heart or given understanding to the mind?

³⁶Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?

³⁷Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens

³⁷Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven,

³⁸when the dust hardens into a mass and the clods of earth stick together?

³⁸When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together?

³⁹Can you hunt the prey for a lioness or satisfy the hunger of young lions

³⁹Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions,

⁴⁰when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait in the thicket?

⁴⁰When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait?

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

⁴¹Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.