Job 38:31-41

31 "Can you tie up the cords of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion?

32 Can you lead out the constellations of the zodiac in their season or guide the Great Bear and its cubs?

33 Do you know the laws of the sky? Can you determine how they affect the earth?

34 "Can you raise your voice to the clouds and make them cover you with a flood of rain?

35 Can you send lightning bolts on their way? Will they say to you, 'Here we are'?

36 "Who put wisdom in people's inner parts? Who gave understanding to the mind?

37 Who, by wisdom, can number the clouds? Who can tilt the water-skins of heaven,

38 so that the dust becomes a mass [of mud], and its clods stick together?

39 "Can you hunt prey for a lioness or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

40 when they crouch in their dens or lie in ambush in their lairs?

41 Who provides food for the raven when his young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?

Job 38:31-41 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 38

In this chapter the Lord takes up the controversy with Job; calls upon him to prepare to engage with him in it, and demands an answer to posing questions he puts to him, concerning the earth and the fabric of it, Job 38:1-7; concerning the sea, compared to an infant in embryo, at its birth, in its swaddling bands and cradle, Job 38:8-11; concerning the morning light, its spread and influence, Job 38:12-15; concerning the springs of the sea, the dark parts of the earth, the place both of light and darkness, Job 38:16-21; concerning the various meteors, snow, hail, rain, thunder, lightning, and the influences of the stars, Job 38:22-38; and concerning provision for lions and ravens, Job 38:40,41.