381 And the Lord made answer to Job out of the storm-wind, and said, 2 Who is this who makes the purpose of God dark by words without knowledge? 3 Get your strength together like a man of war; I will put questions to you, and you will give me the answers.
4 Where were you when I put the earth on its base? Say, if you have knowledge. 5 By whom were its measures fixed? Say, if you have wisdom; or by whom was the line stretched out over it? 6 On what were its pillars based, or who put down its angle-stone, 7 When the morning stars made songs together, and all the sons of the gods gave cries of joy? 8 Or where were you when the sea came to birth, pushing out from its secret place; 9 When I made the cloud its robe, and put thick clouds as bands round it, 10 Ordering a fixed limit for it, with locks and doors; 11 And said, So far you may come, and no farther; and here the pride of your waves will be stopped?
12 Have you, from your earliest days, given orders to the morning, or made the dawn conscious of its place; 13 So that it might take a grip of the skirts of the earth, shaking all the evil-doers out of it? 14 It is changed like wet earth under a stamp, and is coloured like a robe; 15 And from the evil-doers their light is kept back, and the arm of pride is broken. 16 Have you come into the springs of the sea, walking in the secret places of the deep? 17 Have the doors of death been open to you, or have the door-keepers of the dark ever seen you? 18 Have you taken note of the wide limits of the earth? Say, if you have knowledge of it all. 19 Which is the way to the resting-place of the light, and where is the store-house of the dark; 20 So that you might take it to its limit, guiding it to its house? 21 No doubt you have knowledge of it, for then you had come to birth, and the number of your days is great. 22 Have you come into the secret place of snow, or have you seen the store-houses of the ice-drops, 23 Which I have kept for the time of trouble, for the day of war and fighting? 24 Which is the way to the place where the wind is measured out, and the east wind sent out over the earth?
25 By whom has the way been cut for the flowing of the rain, and the flaming of the thunder; 26 Causing rain to come on a land where no man is living, on the waste land which has no people; 27 To give water to the land where there is waste and destruction, and to make the dry land green with young grass? 28 Has the rain a father? or who gave birth to the drops of night mist? 29 Out of whose body came the ice? and who gave birth to the cold mist of heaven? 30 The waters are joined together, hard as a stone, and the face of the deep is covered. 31 Are the bands of the Pleiades fixed by you, or are the cords of Orion made loose? 32 Do you make Mazzaroth come out in its right time, or are the Bear and its children guided by you? 33 Have you knowledge of the laws of the heavens? did you give them rule over the earth? 34 Is your voice sent up to the cloud, so that you may be covered by the weight of waters? 35 Do you send out the thunder-flames, so that they may go, and say to you, Here we are? 36 Who has put wisdom in the high clouds, or given knowledge to the lights of the north? 37 By whose wisdom are the clouds numbered, or the water-skins of the heavens turned to the earth, 38 When the earth becomes hard as metal, and is joined together in masses?
391 Do you go after food for the she-lion, or get meat so that the young lions may have enough, 2 When they are stretched out in their holes, and are waiting in the brushwood? 3 Who gives in the evening the meat he is searching for, when his young ones are crying to God; when the young lions with loud noise go wandering after their food? 4 Have you knowledge of the rock-goats? or do you see the roes giving birth to their young? 5 Is the number of their months fixed by you? or is the time when they give birth ordered by you? 6 They are bent down, they give birth to their young, they let loose the fruit of their body. 7 Their young ones are strong, living in the open country; they go out and do not come back again. 8 Who has let the ass of the fields go free? or made loose the bands of the loud-voiced beast? 9 To whom I have given the waste land for a heritage, and the salt land as a living-place. 10 He makes sport of the noise of the town; the voice of the driver does not come to his ears; 11 He goes looking for his grass-lands in the mountains, searching out every green thing. 12 Will the ox of the mountains be your servant? or is his night's resting-place by your food-store?
13 Will he be pulling your plough with cords, turning up the valleys after you? 14 Will you put your faith in him, because his strength is great? will you give the fruit of your work into his care? 15 Will you be looking for him to come back, and get in your seed to the crushing-floor? 16 Is the wing of the ostrich feeble, or is it because she has no feathers, 17 That she puts her eggs on the earth, warming them in the dust, 18 Without a thought that they may be crushed by the foot, and broken by the beasts of the field?
19 She is cruel to her young ones, as if they were not hers; her work is to no purpose; she has no fear. 20 For God has taken wisdom from her mind, and given her no measure of knowledge. 21 When she is shaking her wings on high, she makes sport of the horse and of him who is seated on him. 22 Do you give strength to the horse? is it by your hand that his neck is clothed with power? 23 Is it through you that he is shaking like a locust, in the pride of his loud-sounding breath? 24 He is stamping with joy in the valley; he makes sport of fear. 25 In his strength he goes out against the arms of war, turning not away from the sword.
26 The bow is sounding against him; he sees the shining point of spear and arrow. 27 Shaking with passion, he is biting the earth; he is not able to keep quiet at the sound of the horn; 28 When it comes to his ears he says, Aha! He is smelling the fight from far off, and hearing the thunder of the captains, and the war-cries. 29 Is it through your knowledge that the hawk takes his flight, stretching out his wings to the south? 30 Or is it by your orders that the eagle goes up, and makes his resting-place on high? 31 On the rock is his house, and on the mountain-top his strong place. 32 From there he is watching for food; his eye sees it far off. 33 His young have blood for their drink, and where the dead bodies are, there is he to be seen. 34 ... 35 Will he who is protesting give teaching to the Ruler of all? Let him who has arguments to put forward against God give an answer. 36 And Job said in answer to the Lord, 37 Truly, I am of no value; what answer may I give to you? I will put my hand on my mouth. 38 I have said once, and even twice, what was in my mind, but I will not do so again.
