The Book of Job

And Jehovah answered Job out of the tempest and said:

Who [is] this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

Now gird up your loins like a man, for I will question you; and you teach Me.

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare if you know understanding.

Who has set its measurements, for you know? Or who has stretched a line on it?

On what [were] its bases sunk? Or who cast its cornerstone,

when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Or [who] shut up the sea with doors, when it burst out; it came forth from the womb?

When I made the clouds to clothe it, and darkness its navel-band;

and I broke My limit on it, and set bars and doors;

and I said, You shall come to here, but no further; and here your proud waves shall be set?

that it might take hold of the wings of the earth; that the wicked might be shaken out of it?

It is turned like clay [under] a seal; and they stand out like a garment.

And their light is withheld from the wicked, and the high arm shall be broken.

Have you gone to the springs of the sea; or have you walked in searching of the deep?

Have death's gates been opened to you; or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Declare, if you know it all!

Where [is] this, the way light dwells; and where is the place of darkness,

that you should take it to its boundary, and that you should perceive the paths to its house?

You know, for then you were born, and the number of your days [is] great.

Have you entered into the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

which I have reserved for the time of distress for the day of battle and war?

How [is] it, the way the light is distributed; [and how does] the east wind spread itself on the earth?

Who has cut a channel for the flood; or a way for the thunderclaps,

to make rain fall on the earth [where] no man [is], a wilderness and no man in it;

to satisfy the waste and desolation, and to cause the source of grass to sprout?

Is there a father for the rain? Or who has given birth to the drops of dew?

From whose womb comes forth the ice; and the frost of the heavens, who fathered it;

the waters hidden like stone, and the face of the deep is captured?

Can you bind the bands of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?

Can you bring out the constellations in their season; or can you guide the Bear with its sons?

Do you know the limits of the heavens; can you establish their rulership on the earth?

Can you lift your voice to the clouds, so that floods of water may cover you?

Can you send lightnings, that they may go and say to you, Here we [are]?

Who has put wisdom in the inward parts; or who has given understanding to the mind?

Who can by wisdom number the clouds or who can lay down the jars of the heavens,

when the dust is melted [into] hardness, and the clods cling fast together?