87 lines
3.4 KiB
Markdown
87 lines
3.4 KiB
Markdown
# Chapter 38
|
||
1 Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:
|
||
2 “Who is this that questions my wisdom
|
||
with such ignorant words?
|
||
3 Brace yourself like a man,
|
||
because I have some questions for you,
|
||
and you must answer them.
|
||
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
|
||
Tell me, if you know so much.
|
||
5 Who determined its dimensions
|
||
and stretched out the surveying line?
|
||
6 What supports its foundations,
|
||
and who laid its cornerstone
|
||
7 as the morning stars sang together
|
||
and all the angels shouted for joy?
|
||
8 “Who kept the sea inside its boundaries
|
||
as it burst from the womb,
|
||
9 and as I clothed it with clouds
|
||
and wrapped it in thick darkness?
|
||
10 For I locked it behind barred gates,
|
||
limiting its shores.
|
||
11 I said, ‘This far and no farther will you come.
|
||
Here your proud waves must stop!’
|
||
12 “Have you ever commanded the morning to appear
|
||
and caused the dawn to rise in the east?
|
||
13 Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth,
|
||
to bring an end to the night’s wickedness?
|
||
14 As the light approaches,
|
||
the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal;
|
||
it is robed in brilliant colors.
|
||
15 The light disturbs the wicked
|
||
and stops the arm that is raised in violence.
|
||
16 “Have you explored the springs from which the seas come?
|
||
Have you explored their depths?
|
||
17 Do you know where the gates of death are located?
|
||
Have you seen the gates of utter gloom?
|
||
18 Do you realize the extent of the earth?
|
||
Tell me about it if you know!
|
||
19 “Where does light come from,
|
||
and where does darkness go?
|
||
20 Can you take each to its home?
|
||
Do you know how to get there?
|
||
21 But of course you know all this!
|
||
For you were born before it was all created,
|
||
and you are so very experienced!
|
||
22 “Have you visited the storehouses of the snow
|
||
or seen the storehouses of hail?
|
||
23 (I have reserved them as weapons for the time of trouble,
|
||
for the day of battle and war.)
|
||
24 Where is the path to the source of light?
|
||
Where is the home of the east wind?
|
||
25 “Who created a channel for the torrents of rain?
|
||
Who laid out the path for the lightning?
|
||
26 Who makes the rain fall on barren land,
|
||
in a desert where no one lives?
|
||
27 Who sends rain to satisfy the parched ground
|
||
and make the tender grass spring up?
|
||
28 “Does the rain have a father?
|
||
Who gives birth to the dew?
|
||
29 Who is the mother of the ice?
|
||
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens?
|
||
30 For the water turns to ice as hard as rock,
|
||
and the surface of the water freezes.
|
||
31 “Can you direct the movement of the stars—
|
||
binding the cluster of the Pleiades
|
||
or loosening the cords of Orion?
|
||
32 Can you direct the constellations through the seasons
|
||
or guide the Bear with her cubs across the heavens?
|
||
33 Do you know the laws of the universe?
|
||
Can you use them to regulate the earth?
|
||
34 “Can you shout to the clouds
|
||
and make it rain?
|
||
35 Can you make lightning appear
|
||
and cause it to strike as you direct?
|
||
36 Who gives intuition to the heart
|
||
and instinct to the mind?
|
||
37 Who is wise enough to count all the clouds?
|
||
Who can tilt the water jars of heaven
|
||
38 when the parched ground is dry
|
||
and the soil has hardened into clods?
|
||
39 “Can you stalk prey for a lioness
|
||
and satisfy the young lions’ appetites
|
||
40 as they lie in their dens
|
||
or crouch in the thicket?
|
||
41 Who provides food for the ravens
|
||
when their young cry out to God
|
||
and wander about in hunger? |