Job 38:4-41

Yahweh Interrogates Job

4 "Where were you at my laying the foundation of [the] earth? Tell [me], if you possess understanding.

5 Who determined its measurement? Yes, you do know. Or who stretched [the] measuring line upon it?

6 On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone,

7 when [the] morning stars were singing together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8 "Or [who] shut [the] sea in with doors at its bursting, [when] it went out of [the] womb,

9 at my making [the] clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band,

10 and I prescribed my rule for it, and I set bars and doors,

11 and I said, 'You shall come up to here, but you shall not go further, and here it will set [a boundary] {for your proud surging waves}'?

12 "Have you {ever in your life} commanded [the] morning? Have you made the dawn know its place,

13 to take hold of the earth's skirts so that the wicked might be shaken off from it?

14 It is changed like clay [under] a seal, and they appear like a garment.

15 And their light is withheld from [the] wicked, and [their] uplifted arm is broken.

16 "Have you entered into [the] sea's sources? Or have you walked around in [the] recesses of the deep?

17 Have [the] gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen [the] gates of deep shadow?

18 Have you considered closely [the] earth's vast expanse? Declare [it], if you know all of it.

19 "Where then [is] the way [where] [the] light dwells? And where then [is] its place,

20 that you may take it to its territory, and that you might discern the paths to its home?

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

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

23 which I have reserved for [the] time of trouble, for [the] day of battle and war?

24 Where then [is] the way [where] [the] light is distributed, [where] he scatters [the] east wind upon [the] earth?

25 "Who has cut open a channel for the torrents and a way for [the] {thunder bolts},

26 to bring rain on a land {where no one lives}, a desert {where no humans live},

27 to satisfy desert and wasteland, and to cause [the ground] to put forth [the] rising of grass?

28 Is there a father for the rain, or who fathered [the] drops of dew?

29 From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who fathered [the] frost of heaven?

30 Like stone [the] waters become hard, and [the] faces of the deep freeze.

31 "Can you bind [the] chains of [the] Pleiades, or can you loosen [the] cords of Orion?

32 Can you lead forth the southern constellations at their appointed time, or can you lead [the] Bear with its children?

33 Do you know heaven's statutes, or can you establish their rule on the earth?

34 Can you lift up your voice to the clouds so that a flood of water may cover you?

35 Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go? And will they say to you, 'Here we are'?

36 Who has put wisdom in the ibis, or who has given understanding to the rooster?

37 Who can number [the] clouds with wisdom? Or who can tilt heaven's jars,

38 at [the] flowing of [the] dust into a cast and [the] clods cling together?

39 "Can you hunt prey for [the] lion? And can you satisfy [the] hunger of strong lions

40 when they are crouched in the dens, [when] they lie in the thicket in an ambush?

41 Who prepares for the crow its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, [and] they wander around {for lack of food}?

Job 38:4-41 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "heavenly beings"
• [b]. Hebrew "and"
• [c]. Literally "for [the] pride of your surging waves"
• [d]. Literally "from your days"
• [e]. Hebrew "and"
• [f]. Or "Where exactly"
• [g]. Or "where exactly"
• [h]. Hebrew "and"
• [i]. Or "Where exactly"
• [j]. Literally "bolt of thunders"
• [k]. Literally "not a man"
• [l]. Literally "not humans in it"
• [m]. Hebrew "and"
• [n]. Hebrew "and"
• [o]. Or "inner parts"
• [p]. Or "mind"
• [q]. Hebrew "And"
• [r]. Literally "for no food"