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Yahweh Answers Job

¹ Then Yahweh ^(C1)answered Job out of the ^(F1)whirlwind and said,

² "Who is this that ^(C1)darkens counsel
By words without knowledge?

³ "Now ^(C1)gird up your loins like a man,
And ^(C2)I will ask you, and you make Me know!

⁴ "Where were you ^(C1)when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you know understanding,

⁵ Who set its ^(C1)measurements? Since you know.
Or who stretched the line on it?

⁶ "On what ^(C1)were its bases sunk?
Or who laid its cornerstone,

⁷ When the morning stars sang together
And all the ^(C1)sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸ "Or who ^(C1)enclosed the sea with doors
When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb,

⁹ When I made a cloud its garment
And dense gloom its swaddling band,

¹⁰ And I ^(F1)(C1)placed boundaries on it
And set a bolt and doors,

¹¹ And I said, 'Thus far you shall come, but no farther;
And here shall your proud waves stop'?

Yahweh Answers Job, "Have You?"

¹² "Have you ^(F1)ever in your life commanded the morning,
And caused the dawn to know its place,

¹³ That it might seize ^(C1)the ends of the earth,
And ^(C2)the wicked be shaken out of it?

¹⁴ "It is changed like clay under the seal;
And they stand forth like clothing.

¹⁵ "^(C1)From the wicked their light is withheld,
And the arm ^(C2)raised high is broken.

¹⁶ "Have you entered into ^(C1)the springs of the sea
Or walked ^(F1)in the recesses of the deep?

¹⁷ "Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
Or have you seen the gates of the ^(C1)shadow of death?

¹⁸ "Have you carefully considered the ^(F1)expanse of ^(C1)the earth?
Tell Me, if you know all this.

¹⁹ "Where is the way to where the light dwells?
And darkness, where is its place,

²⁰ That you may take it to ^(C1)its territory
And that you may discern the paths to its ^(F1)home?

²¹ "You know, for ^(C1)you were born then,
And the number of your days is great!

²² "Have you entered the storehouses ^(C1)of the snow,
Or have you seen the storehouses of the ^(C2)hail,

²³ Which I have reserved for the time of distress,
For the day of war and battle?

²⁴ "Where is the way that ^(C1)the light is divided,
Or the east wind scattered on the earth?

²⁵ "Who has cleft a conduit for the flood,
Or a way for the thunderbolt,

²⁶ To bring ^(C1)rain on a land without ^(F1)people,
On a desert without a man in it,

²⁷ To ^(C1)satisfy the waste and desolate land
And to make the growth of grass to sprout?

²⁸ "Has ^(C1)the rain a father?
Or who has begotten the drops of dew?

²⁹ "From whose womb has come the ^(C1)ice?
And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth?

³⁰ "Water ^(F1)becomes hard like stone,
And the surface of the deep ^(F2)is interlocked.

³¹ "Can you bind the chains of the ^(C1)Pleiades,
Or loose the cords of Orion?

³² "Can you lead forth a ^(F1)constellation in its season,
And guide the Bear with her ^(F2)satellites?

³³ "Do you know the ^(C1)statutes of the heavens,
Or fix their rule over the earth?

³⁴ "Can you raise your voice up to the clouds,
So that an ^(C1)abundance of water will cover you?

³⁵ "Can you ^(C1)send forth lightnings that they may go
And say to you, 'Here we are'?

³⁶ "Who has ^(C1)given wisdom in the ^(F1)innermost being
Or given ^(C2)understanding to the ^(F2)mind?

³⁷ "Who can count the clouds by wisdom,
Or ^(C1)tip the water jars of the heavens,

³⁸ When the dust hardens into a mass
And the clods stick together?

Yahweh Answers Job, "Where Were You?"

³⁹ "Can you hunt the ^(C1)prey for the lion,
Or fulfill the appetite of the young lions,

⁴⁰ When they ^(C1)crouch in their dens
And lie in wait in their lair?

⁴¹ "Who prepares for ^(C1)the raven its provision
When its young cry for help to God
And wander about without food?