Shared Word Translation
Job 38
The LORD Answers Job from the Storm
Then the LORD answered Job from the storm and said:
“Who is this who darkens counsel
with words without knowledge?
Gird up your waist like a man;
I will question you,
and you make me know.
Where Were You When I Founded the Earth?
Where were you when I founded the earth?
Declare it, if you know understanding.
Who set its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched a measuring line upon it?
Upon what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,
when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Who Shut the Sea Behind Doors?
And who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out, coming from the womb,
when I made cloud its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling cloth,
and I prescribed my boundary for it
and set bars and doors,
and said, ‘Thus far you may come, and no farther;
here your proud waves shall stop’?
Have You Commanded the Morning?
Have you ever in your days commanded the morning
or made the dawn know its place,
that it might take hold of the edges of the earth
and shake the wicked out of it?
It is changed like clay under a seal,
and things stand out like a garment.
Their light is withheld from the wicked,
and the uplifted arm is broken.
Have You Entered the Springs of the Sea?
Have you entered the springs of the sea
or walked in the searchings of the deep?
Have the gates of Death been revealed to you?
Have you seen the gates of death-shadow?
Have you understood the breadths of the earth?
Declare it, if you know all this.
Where Is the Way to Light?
Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
and darkness—where is its place,
that you may take it to its territory
and understand the paths to its house?
Surely you know, for you were born then,
and the number of your days is great!
Have You Entered the Storehouses of Snow?
Have you entered the storehouses of snow
or seen the storehouses of hail,
which I have reserved for a time of distress,
for a day of battle and war?
What is the way by which light is distributed,
or the east wind scattered over the earth?
Who Cut a Channel for the Flood?
Who cut a channel for the flood
and a way for the thunderbolt,
to make it rain upon a land where no one lives,
upon a wilderness in which there is no human,
to satisfy the waste and desolate land
and make the growth of grass sprout?
Does the rain have a father?
Or who fathered the drops of dew?
From whose womb came the ice,
and the frost of heaven—who gave it birth?
The waters hide themselves like stone,
and the face of the deep becomes firm.
Can You Bind the Pleiades?
Can you bind the bonds of the Pleiades
or loosen the cords of Orion?
Can you bring out the constellations in their season
or guide the Bear with her children?
Do you know the statutes of the heavens?
Can you establish their rule on the earth?
Can You Raise Your Voice to the Clouds?
Can you raise your voice to the clouds
so that an abundance of water covers you?
Can you send lightning so that it goes
and says to you, ‘Here we are’?
Who put wisdom in the inward parts
or gave understanding to the mind?
Who can number the clouds by wisdom,
or tip over the jars of heaven,
when dust is cast into a mass
and clods cling together?
Can You Hunt Prey for the Lion?
Can you hunt prey for the lioness
or satisfy the appetite of young lions,
when they crouch in their dens
and lie in wait in the thicket?
Who provides for the raven its prey
when its young cry out to God
and wander for lack of food?