Then
Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind,
“Where
were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Declare,
if you have understanding.
Who
determined its measures, if you know?
Or
who stretched the line on it?
What
were its foundations fastened on?
Or
who laid its cornerstone,
when
the morning stars sang together,
and
all the sons of God shouted for joy?
“Or
who shut up the sea with doors,
when
it broke out of the womb,
when
I made clouds its garment,
and
wrapped it in thick darkness,
marked
out for it my bound,
set
bars and doors,
and
said, ‘You may come here, but no further.
Your
proud waves shall be stopped here?’
“Have
you commanded the morning in your days,
and
caused the dawn to know its place,
that
it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
and
shake the wicked out of it?
It
is changed as clay under the seal,
and
presented as a garment.
From
the wicked, their light is withheld.
The
high arm is broken.
“Have
you entered into the springs of the sea?
Or
have you walked in the recesses of the deep?
Have
you comprehended the earth in its width?
Declare,
if you know it all.
“What
is the way to the dwelling of light?
As
for darkness, where is its place,
that
you should take it to its bound,
that
you should discern 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 treasuries of the snow,
or
have you seen the treasures of the hail,
which
I have reserved against the time of trouble,
against
the day of battle and war?
By
what way is the lightning distributed,
or
the east wind scattered on the earth?
Who
has cut a channel for the flood water,
or
the path for the thunder storm,
to
cause it to rain on a land where there is no man,
on
the wilderness, in which there is no man,
to
satisfy the waste and desolate ground,
to
cause the tender grass to grow?
Does
the rain have a father?
Or
who fathers the drops of dew?
Whose
womb did the ice come out of?
Who
has given birth to the gray frost of the sky?
The
waters become hard like stone,
when
the surface of the deep is frozen.
“Can
you bind the cluster of the Pleiades constellation,
or
loosen the cords of Orion?
Can
you lead the constellations out in their season?
Or
can you guide the Bear with her cubs?
Do
you know the laws of the heavens?
Can
you establish its dominion over the earth?
“Can
you lift up your voice to the clouds,
That
abundance of waters may cover you?
Can
you send out lightnings, that they may go?
Do
they report to you, ‘Here we are?’
Who
has put wisdom in the inward parts?
Or
who has given understanding to the mind?
Who
can count the clouds by wisdom?
Or
who can pour out the containers of the sky,
when
the dust runs into a mass,
and
the clods of earth stick together?
Job 38:1,4-16,18-38
Image: A new solar system forming (BBC News 11-5-14)
