Job 38

The LORD Challenges Job

1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: ‡ Job 40:61Ki 19:112Ki 2:11Exo 19:16-19Job 37:1-22Ki 2:1Deu 4:11-12Ezk 1:4 +4

2 “Who is this who obscures My counsel ‡ Job 42:3Job 35:161Ti 1:7Job 34:35Job 27:11Job 12:3Job 23:4-5Job 24:25 +1

by words without knowledge? ¹

3 Now brace yourself ²like a man; ‡ Job 40:7Exo 12:11Jer 1:171Ki 18:461Pe 1:13Job 13:15Job 13:22Job 23:3-7 +1

I will question you, and you shall inform Me. ³

4 Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? ‡ Psa 104:5Heb 1:10Pro 30:4Heb 1:2Gen 1:1Psa 102:25Pro 8:22Pro 8:29-30

Tell Me, if you have understanding.

5 Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know! ‡ Isa 40:12Job 11:9Zec 2:1-22Co 10:16Isa 34:11Isa 40:22Job 28:25Pro 8:27 +3

Or who stretched a measuring line across it?

6 On what were its foundations set, ‡ Job 26:7Psa 104:5Psa 93:12Pe 3:5Isa 28:16Psa 118:22Zec 12:1Eph 2:20-21 +4

or who laid its cornerstone, ⁴

7 while the morning stars sang together ‡ Rev 5:11Job 1:6Ezr 3:11-12Rev 22:16Job 2:1Psa 104:4Rev 2:28Zec 4:7

and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8 Who enclosed the sea behind doors ‡ Gen 1:9Jer 5:22Pro 8:29Psa 104:8-9Psa 33:7Job 38:10

when it burst forth from the womb,

9 when I made the clouds its garment ‡ Gen 1:2

and thick darkness its blanket,

10 when I fixed its boundaries ‡ Jer 5:22Psa 104:9Job 26:10Psa 33:7Gen 1:9-10Gen 9:15

and set in place its bars and doors,

11 and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther; ‡ Psa 89:9Pro 8:29Mrk 4:39-41Psa 65:6-7Luk 8:32-33Isa 27:8Job 2:6Psa 93:3-4 +4

here your proud waves must stop’?

12 In your days, have you commanded the morning ‡ Psa 74:16Gen 1:5Psa 148:3-5Job 8:92Pe 1:19Luk 1:78Psa 136:7-8Job 15:7 +2

or assigned the dawn its place,

13 that it might spread to the ends of the earth ‡ Job 37:3Psa 104:35Exo 14:27Job 24:13-17Psa 104:21-22Psa 139:9-12Psa 19:4-6

and shake the wicked out of it?

14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; ‡ Psa 104:6Psa 104:2

its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.

15 Light is withheld from the wicked, ‡ Psa 10:15Job 18:5Psa 37:17Pro 4:19Exo 10:21-23Ezk 30:22Job 18:18Job 5:14 +4

and their upraised arm is broken.

16 Have you journeyed to the vents of the sea ‡ Pro 8:24Job 26:5-6Psa 77:19Jer 51:36

or walked in the trenches of the deep?

17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? ‡ Psa 9:13Psa 107:18Job 3:5Job 12:22Psa 107:10Psa 107:14Psa 23:4Amo 5:8 +2

Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

18 Have you surveyed the extent of the earth? ‡ Jer 31:37Psa 89:11-12Rev 20:9Isa 40:28Job 28:24Psa 74:17

Tell Me, if you know all this.

19 Where is the way to the home of light? ‡ Ezk 32:8Amo 4:13Deu 4:19Gen 1:14-18Gen 1:3-4Isa 45:7Job 38:12-13Mat 27:45 +6

Do you know where darkness resides,

20 so you can lead it back to its border? ‡ Gen 10:19Gen 23:17Job 26:10

Do you know the paths to its home?

21 Surely you know, for you were already born! ‡ Job 15:7Job 38:12Job 38:4

And the number of your days is great!

22 Have you entered the storehouses of snow ‡ Job 37:6Psa 135:7Job 6:16Psa 33:7

or observed the storehouses of hail,

23 which I hold in reserve for times of trouble, ‡ Jos 10:11Isa 30:30Exo 9:18Ezk 13:11-13Job 36:13Rev 16:21Exo 9:24Job 36:31 +1

for the day of war and battle?

24 In which direction is the lightning dispersed, ‡ Job 38:12-13Jon 4:8Mat 24:27

or the east wind scattered over the earth?

25 Who cuts a channel for the flood ‡ Job 28:26Psa 29:3-10Job 36:27-28Job 37:3-6

or clears a path for the thunderbolt,

26 to bring rain on a barren land, ‡ Jer 14:22Heb 6:7-8Psa 107:35Isa 35:1-2Isa 43:19-20Job 36:27Psa 104:10-14Psa 147:8-9 +1

on a desert where no man lives,

27 to satisfy the parched wasteland ‡ Psa 107:35Psa 104:14

and make it sprout with tender grass?

28 Does the rain have a father? ‡ Jer 14:22Psa 147:8Jer 10:13Pro 3:201Ki 17:11Sa 12:17-182Sa 1:21Amo 4:7 +12

Who has begotten the drops of dew?

29 From whose womb does the ice emerge? ‡ Psa 147:16-17Job 37:10Job 38:8Job 6:16

Who gives birth to the frost from heaven,

30 when the waters become hard as stone ‡ Job 37:10

and the surface of the deep is frozen?

31 Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades ‡ Amo 5:8Job 9:9

or loosen the belt of Orion?

32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons ⁵ ‡ Job 38:312Ki 23:5Job 9:9

or lead out the Bear ⁶and her cubs?

33 Do you know the laws of the heavens? ‡ Jer 31:35-36Gen 8:22Gen 1:16Jer 33:25Job 38:12-13Psa 148:6Psa 119:90-91

Can you set their dominion over the earth?

34 Can you command the clouds ‡ Job 22:111Sa 12:18Amo 5:8Jas 5:18Job 36:27-28Zec 10:1

so that a flood of water covers you?

35 Can you send the lightning bolts on their way? ‡ Job 36:32Job 37:31Sa 22:122Ki 1:102Ki 1:14Exo 9:23-25Exo 9:29Isa 6:8 +5

Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?

36 Who has put wisdom in the heart ⁷ ‡ Job 32:8Psa 51:6Ecc 2:26Pro 2:6Jas 1:5Exo 31:3Job 9:4Jas 1:17 +2

or given understanding to the mind?

37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? ‡ Psa 147:4Gen 15:5Gen 8:1Gen 9:15

Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens

38 when the dust hardens into a mass

and the clods of earth stick together?

39 Can you hunt the prey for a lioness ‡ Psa 104:21Job 4:10-11Psa 145:15-16Psa 34:10

or satisfy the hunger of young lions

40 when they crouch in their dens ‡ Job 37:8Gen 49:9Num 23:24Num 24:9

and lie in wait in the thicket?

41 Who provides food for the raven ‡ Luk 12:24Mat 6:26Psa 147:9Psa 104:27-28

when its young cry out to God

as they wander about for lack of food?