CHAPTER 38
1 Forsooth the Lord answered from the whirlwind to Job, and said,
2 Who is this man, wrapping together sentences with unwise words?
3 Gird thou as a man thy loins; I shall ask thee, and answer thou [to] me.
4 Where were thou, when I set the foundaments of the earth? show thou to me, if thou hast understanding.
5 Who setted [the] measurements thereof, if thou knowest? either who stretched forth a line thereupon?
6 Upon what thing be the founda-ments thereof made steadfast? either who sent down the cornerstone thereof,
7 when the morrow stars praised me together, and all the sons of God sang joyfully?
8 Who enclosed altogether the sea with doors, when it brake out coming forth as of the womb?
9 When I setted a cloud the cover-ing thereof, and I wrapped it with darkness, as with ‘clothes of young childhood.
10 I encompassed it with my terms, and I setted [or set] a bar, and doors;
11 and I said, Hitherto thou shalt come, and thou shalt not go further; and here thou shalt break altogether thy swelling waves.
12 Whether after thy birth thou commandedest to the beginning of the day, and showedest to the morrow-tide his place?
13 Whether thou heldest shaking together the last parts of [the] earth, and shakedest away [the] wicked men therefrom?
14 A sealing shall be restored as clay, and it shall stand as a cloth.
15 The light of wicked men shall be taken away from them, and an high arm shall be broken.
16 Whether thou hast entered into the depth of the sea, and hast walked in the last parts of the depth, that is, the ocean, or the great west sea?
17 Whether the gates of death be opened to thee, and thou hast seen the dark doors?
18 Whether thou hast beheld the breadth of the earth? Show thou to me, if thou knowest all things,
19 in what way the light dwelleth, and which is the place of darkness;
20 that thou lead out each thing to his terms, and that thou understand the ways of his house.
21 Knewest thou then, that thou shouldest be born, and knew thou the number of thy days?
22 Whether thou enteredest into the treasures of snow, either beheldest thou the treasures of hail?
23 which things I made ready into the time of an enemy, into the day of fighting and of battle.
24 By what way is the light spread abroad, and by what way heat is parted upon earth?
25 Who gave course to the strongest rain, and way of the thunder sounding?
26 That it should rain on the earth without man, in desert, where none of deadly men dwelleth?
27 That it should [ful] fill a land without a way and desolate, and should bring forth green herbs?
28 Who is [the] father of rain, either who engendered the drops of dew?
29 Of whose womb went out ice, and who begat frost from heaven?
30 Waters be made hard in the likeness of [a] stone, and the over-part of [the] ocean is constrained together.
31 Whether thou shalt be able to join together [the] shining stars Pleiades, that is, the seven stars, either thou shalt be able to destroy the compass of Arcturus?
32 Whether thou bringest forth Lucifer, that is, the day star, in his time, and makest the even star to rise upon the sons of [the] earth?
33 Whether thou knowest the order of heaven, and shall set the reason thereof in [the] earth?
34 Whether thou shalt raise thy voice into a cloud, and the fierceness of waters shall cover thee?
35 Whether thou shalt send out lightnings, and they shall go forth, and those [or they] shall turn again, and shall say to thee, We be present?
36 Who hath put wisdom to the entrails of man, that is, soul, either who gave understanding to the cock?
37 Who shall tell out the reason of heavens, and who shall make [the] according of heaven to sleep?
38 When dust was founded on the earth, and clots were joined together?
39 Whether thou shalt take [the] prey to the lioness, and shalt fill the souls of her whelps,
40 when they lie in caves, and espy in dens?
41 Who maketh ready for the crow his meat, when his young cry to God, and wander about, for they have not meats?