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The Lord Answers Job

¹ Then the Lord answered Job out of the strong wind and said, ² "Who is this that makes words of wisdom dark by speaking without much learning? ³ Now get ready like a man, and I will ask you some questions and you answer Me. ⁴ Where were you when I began building the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. ⁵ Who decided how big it was to be, since you know? Who looked to see if it was as big as it should be? ⁶ What was it built upon? Who laid its first stone, ⁷ when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God called out for joy?

⁸ "Who shut up the sea with doors, when it rushed out from its secret place? ⁹ I made clouds its clothing, and put much darkness around it. ¹⁰ I marked the places where it could not pass, and set locks and doors. ¹¹ And I said, ‘You will come this far, and no farther. Here will your proud waves stop.'

¹² "Have you ever in your life told the morning when to come, and caused the first light of day to know its place, ¹³ that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and the sinful be shaken out of it? ¹⁴ It is changed like clay when an object is pushed down to mark it, and they stand out like clothing. ¹⁵ The light of the sinful is held back, and the arm lifted up is broken.

¹⁶ "Have you gone into the wells of the sea? Have you walked on the bottom of the deep sea? ¹⁷ Have the gates of death been shown to you? Or have you seen the gates of the deep darkness? ¹⁸ Have you understood how great the earth is? Tell Me, if you know all this.

¹⁹ "Where does the light come from? And where is the place of darkness, ²⁰ that you may take it to its land, and know the paths to its home? ²¹ You know, for you were born then. You are very old! ²² Have you gone into the store-houses of the snow? Have you seen the store-houses of the hail, ²³ which I have kept for the time of trouble, for the day of war and battle? ²⁴ What is the way to the place where the light is divided, or the east wind spread over the earth?

²⁵ "Who has cut open a way for the flood, and a path for the thunderstorm? ²⁶ Who brings rain on the land without people, on a desert without a man in it, ²⁷ to fill the need of the wasted land, and to make the grass grow? ²⁸ Does the rain have a father? Who has given birth to the drops of rain? ²⁹ Who gave birth to ice? And who gave birth to the snow water of heaven? ³⁰ Water becomes hard like stone, and the top of the sea is covered with ice.

³¹ "Can you tie the chains of the stars of Pleiades, or loose the ropes of Orion? ³² Can you lead the groups of stars out at the right times? Can you lead the stars of the Bear with her young? ³³ Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you make them to rule over the earth?

³⁴ "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of water may cover you? ³⁵ Can you send out lightnings, that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are'? ³⁶ Who has given wisdom to the heart? Who has given understanding to the mind? ³⁷ Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can push over the water jars of the heavens, ³⁸ when the dust gathers together and becomes hard?

³⁹ "Can you hunt food for the lion? Can you fill the hunger of the young lions, ⁴⁰ when they lie in their own place in the rock, or wait in their hiding place? ⁴¹ Who gets the food ready for the raven, when its young cry to God and go about without food?