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v1
Then ^[Hebrew “And”] Yahweh answered Job from the storm, and he said,
v2
“Who is this darkening counsel by words without knowledge?
v3
Prepare yourself for a difficult task like a man, ^[Literally “Gird up like a man your loins”] and I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
v4
“Where were you at my laying the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you possess understanding.
v5
Who determined its measurement? Yes, you do know. Or who stretched the measuring line upon it?
v6
On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone,
v7
when the morning stars were singing together and all the sons of God ^[Or “heavenly beings”] shouted for joy?
v8
“Or who shut the sea in with doors at its bursting, when it went out of the womb,
v9
at my making the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band,
v10
and I prescribed my rule for it, and I set bars and doors,
v11
and I said, ‘You shall come up to here, but ^[Hebrew “and”] you shall not go further, and here it will set a boundary for your proud surging waves’? ^[Literally “for the pride of your surging waves”]
v12
“Have you ever in your life ^[Literally “from your days”] commanded the morning? Have you made the dawn know its place,
v13
to take hold of the earth’s skirts so that ^[Hebrew “and”] the wicked might be shaken off from it?
v14
It is changed like clay under a seal, and they appear like a garment.
v15
And their light is withheld from the wicked, and their uplifted arm is broken.
v16
“Have you entered into the sea’s sources? Or have you walked around in the recesses of the deep?
v17
Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of deep shadow?
v18
Have you considered closely the earth’s vast expanse? Declare it, if you know all of it.
v19
“Where then ^[Or “Where exactly”] is the way where the light dwells? And where then ^[Or “where exactly”] is its place,
v20
that you may take it to its territory, and that you might discern the paths to its home?
v21
You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great.
v22
Have you entered into the storehouses of the snow, or ^[Hebrew “and”] have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
v23
which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?
v24
Where then ^[Or “Where exactly”] is the way where the light is distributed, where he scatters the east wind upon the earth?
v25
“Who has cut open a channel for the torrents and a way for the thunder bolts, ^[Literally “bolt of thunders”]
v26
to bring rain on a land where no one lives, ^[Literally “not a man”] a desert where no humans live, ^[Literally “not humans in it”]
v27
to satisfy desert and wasteland, and to cause the ground to put forth the rising of grass?
v28
Is there a father for the rain, or who fathered the drops of dew?
v29
From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who fathered the frost of heaven?
v30
Like stone the waters become hard, and the faces of the deep freeze.
v31
“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or can you loosen the cords of Orion?
v32
Can you lead forth the southern constellations at their appointed time, or ^[Hebrew “and”] can you lead the Bear with its children?
v33
Do you know heaven’s statutes, or can you establish their rule on the earth?
v34
Can you lift up your voice to the clouds so that ^[Hebrew “and”] a flood of water may cover you?
v35
Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go? And will they say to you, ‘Here we are’?
v36
Who has put wisdom in the ibis, ^[Or “inner parts”] or who has given understanding to the rooster? ^[Or “mind”]
v37
Who can number the clouds with wisdom? Or ^[Hebrew “And”] who can tilt heaven’s jars,
v38
at the flowing of the dust into a cast and the clods cling together?
v39
“Can you hunt prey for the lion? And can you satisfy the hunger of strong lions
v40
when they are crouched in the dens, when they lie in the thicket in an ambush?
v41
Who prepares for the crow its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and they wander around for lack of food? ^[Literally “for no food”]