“Hear this, O Job; stop and consider the wondrous works of God.
Do you know how God lays his command upon them and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?
Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge,
you whose garments are hot when the earth is still because of the south wind?
Can you, like him, spread out the skies, hard as a cast metal mirror?
“And now no one looks on the light when it is bright in the skies, when the wind has passed and cleared them.
Out of the north comes golden splendor; God is clothed with awesome majesty.
The Almighty—we cannot find him; he is great in power; justice and abundant righteousness he will not violate.
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?
when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
“Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb,
“Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,
that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?
It is changed like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment.
From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken.
“Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?
Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.
“Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness,
that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home?
You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!
“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?
What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?
“Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt,
to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man,
to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass?
“Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew?
From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven?
The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.
“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion?
Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children?
Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?
“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you?
Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind?
Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
when the dust runs into a mass and the clods stick fast together?
“Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?
“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the does?
Can you number the months that they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth,
Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open; they go out and do not return to them.
“Who has let the wild donkey go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,
to whom I have given the arid plain for his home and the salt land for his dwelling place?
He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver.
He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.
“Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your manger?
Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you?
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
ESV® Permanent Text Edition (2016). The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers.
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