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38
1 Then spake Jehovah to Job out of the whirlwind, and said: 2 Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Gird up thy loins like a man! I will ask thee, and answer thou me! 4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding! 5 Who fixed its dimensions, that thou shouldst know it! Or who stretched out the line upon it? 6 Upon what were its foundations fixed? And who laid its corner-stone, 7 When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy? 8 And who shut up the sea with doors, When it burst forth as from the womb? 9 When I made the clouds its mantle, And thick darkness its swaddling-band; 10 When I appointed for it my bound, And fixed for it bars and doors; 11 And said, Thus far shalt thou come, and no farther, And here shall thy proud waves be stayed! 12 Hast thou, in thy life, given charge to the morning, Or caused the day-spring to know its place, 13 That it should lay hold of the ends of the earth, And shake the wicked out of it? 14 It is changed as clay by the seal; And all things stand forth as in rich apparel. 15 But from the wicked their light is withheld, And the high-raised arm is broken. 16 Hast thou visited the springs of the sea, And walked through the recesses of the deep? 17 Have the gates of death been disclosed to thee, And hast thou seen the gates of the shadow of death? 18 Hast thou surveyed the breadth of the earth? Declare, if thou knowest it all! 19 Where is the way to the abode of light? And darkness—where is its dwelling-place? 20 That thou shouldst lead it to its boundary, And that thou shouldst know the paths to its mansion! 21 Surely thou knowest; for thou wast then born! And the number of thy years is great! 22 Hast thou visited the storehouses of the snow, Or seen the treasuries of the hail, 23 Which I have reserved against the time of trouble,—Against the day of battle and war? 24 What is the way to where light is distributed, And the east wind spread abroad upon the earth? 25 Who hath prepared channels for the rain, And a path for the thunder-flash, 26 To give rain to the land without an inhabitant, To the wilderness wherein is no man; 27 To satisfy the desolate and waste ground, And cause the tender herb to spring forth? 28 Hath the rain a father? Or who hath begotten the drops of the dew? 29 Out of whose womb came the ice? And who hath gendered the hoar-frost of heaven? 30 The waters are hid as under stone, And the face of the deep becometh solid. 31 Canst thou fasten the bands of the Pleiades, Or loosen the chains of Orion? 32 Canst thou lead forth the Signs in their season, Or guide the Bear with her sons? 33 Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens? Hast thou appointed their dominion over the earth? 34 Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, So that abundance of waters will cover thee? 35 Canst thou send forth lightnings, so that they will go, And say to thee, “Here we are”? 36 Who hath put understanding in the reins, And given intelligence to the mind? 37 Who numbereth the clouds in wisdom? And who poureth out the bottles of heaven, 38 When the dust floweth into a molten mass, And the clods cleave fast together? 39 Canst thou hunt prey for the lioness, Or satisfy the hunger of the young lions, 40 When they couch in their dens, And lie in wait in the thicket? 41 Who provideth for the raven his food, When his young ones cry unto God, While they wander about without food?

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