Study Desk

The Lord Speaks

Then the Lord spoke to Job^(a) out of the storm.^(b) He said:

"Who is this that obscures my plans^(c) with words without knowledge?^(d)

Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.^(e)

"Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?^(f) Tell me, if you understand.^(g)

Who marked off its dimensions?^(h) Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line⁽ⁱ⁾ across it?

On what were its footings set,^(j) or who laid its cornerstone^(k)—

while the morning stars^(l) sang together^(m) and all the angels^[a](n) shouted for joy?^(o)

"Who shut up the sea behind doors^(p) when it burst forth from the womb,^(q)

when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness,^(r)

when I fixed limits for it^(s) and set its doors and bars in place,^(t)

when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;^(u) here is where your proud waves halt'?^(v)

"Have you ever given orders to the morning,^(w) or shown the dawn its place,^(x)

that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked^(y) out of it?^(z)

The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;^(aa) its features stand out like those of a garment.

The wicked are denied their light,^(ab) and their upraised arm is broken.^(ac)

"Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?^(ad)

Have the gates of death^(ae) been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?^(af)

Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?^(ag) Tell me, if you know all this.^(ah)

"What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside?^(ai)

Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths^(aj) to their dwellings?

Surely you know, for you were already born!^(ak) You have lived so many years!

"Have you entered the storehouses of the snow^(al) or seen the storehouses^(am) of the hail,^(an)

which I reserve for times of trouble,^(ao) for days of war and battle?^(ap)

What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,^(aq) or the place where the east winds^(ar) are scattered over the earth?^(as)

Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm,^(at)

to water^(au) a land where no one lives, an uninhabited desert,^(av)

to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?^(aw)

Does the rain have a father?^(ax) Who fathers the drops of dew?

From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens^(ay)

when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?^(az)

"Can you bind the chains^[b] of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion's belt?^(ba)

Can you bring forth the constellations^(bb) in their seasons^[c] or lead out the Bear^[d] with its cubs?^(bc)

Do you know the laws^(bd) of the heavens?^(be) Can you set up God's^[e] dominion over the earth?

"Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water?^(bf)

Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?^(bg) Do they report to you, ‘Here we are'?

Who gives the ibis wisdom^[f](bh) or gives the rooster understanding?^[g](bi)

Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars^(bj) of the heavens^(bk)

when the dust becomes hard^(bl) and the clods of earth stick together?^(bm)

"Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions^(bn)

when they crouch in their dens^(bo) or lie in wait in a thicket?^(bp)

Who provides food^(bq) for the raven^(br) when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?^(bs)