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Job 38, RSV

38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind:

38:2 "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

38:3 Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me.

38:4 "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

38:5 Who determined its measurements -- surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?

38:6 On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,

38:7 when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

38:8 "Or who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth from the womb;

38:9 when I made clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band,

38:10 and prescribed bounds for it, and set bars and doors,

38:11 and said, `Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed'?

38:12 "Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,

38:13 that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?

38:14 It is changed like clay under the seal, and it is dyed like a garment.

38:15 From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken.

38:16 "Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?

38:17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

38:18 Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.

38:19 "Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness,

38:20 that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home?

38:21 You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!

38:22 "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

38:23 which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?

38:24 What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?

38:25 "Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain, and a way for the thunderbolt,

38:26 to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man;

38:27 to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground put forth grass?

38:28 "Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew?

38:29 From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven?

38:30 The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

38:31 "Can you bind the chains of the Plei'ades, or loose the cords of Orion?

38:32 Can you lead forth the Maz'zaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children?

38:33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?

38:34 "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you?

38:35 Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, `Here we are'?

38:36 Who has put wisdom in the clouds, or given understanding to the mists?

38:37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,

38:38 when the dust runs into a mass and the clods cleave fast together?

38:39 "Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

38:40 when they crouch in their dens, or lie in wait in their covert?

38:41 Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food?

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