“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding,

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,

When the morning stars sang together
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

“Who prepares for the raven its nourishment
When its young cry to God
And wander about without food?

When they crouch in their dens
And lie in wait in their lair?

“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades,
Or loose the cords of Orion?

“Can you hunt the prey for the lion,
Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
Or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

“Who is this that darkens counsel
By words without knowledge?

“Or who enclosed the sea with doors
When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb;

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

“Have you ever in your life commanded the morning,
And caused the dawn to know its place,

“Have you entered into the springs of the sea
Or walked in the recesses of the deep?

And I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther;
And here shall your proud waves stop’?

“Can you lead forth a constellation in its season,
And guide the Bear with her satellites?

“Where is the way to the dwelling of light?
And darkness, where is its place,

“Now gird up your loins like a man,
And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!

“Do you know the ordinances of the heavens,
Or fix their rule over the earth?

“Who has put wisdom in the innermost being
Or given understanding to the mind?

“Who has cleft a channel for the flood,
Or a way for the thunderbolt,

And I placed boundaries on it
And set a bolt and doors,

“Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

When I made a cloud its garment
And thick darkness its swaddling band,

That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
And the wicked be shaken out of it?

“It is changed like clay under the seal;
And they stand forth like a garment.

“Has the rain a father?
Or who has begotten the drops of dew?

“From whose womb has come the ice?
And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth?

“Can you send forth lightnings that they may go
And say to you, ‘Here we are’?

“Where is the way that the light is divided,
Or the east wind scattered on the earth?

Who set its measurements? Since you know.
Or who stretched the line on it?

“From the wicked their light is withheld,
And the uplifted arm is broken.

To bring rain on a land without people,
On a desert without a man in it,

“Who can count the clouds by wisdom,
Or tip the water jars of the heavens,

“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
So that an abundance of water will cover you?

“Water becomes hard like stone,
And the surface of the deep is imprisoned.

“Have you understood the expanse of the earth?
Tell Me, if you know all this.

When the dust hardens into a mass
And the clods stick together?

Which I have reserved for the time of distress,
For the day of war and battle?

To satisfy the waste and desolate land
And to make the seeds of grass to sprout?

That you may take it to its territory
And that you may discern the paths to its home?

“You know, for you were born then,
And the number of your days is great!