Job 38; Job 39

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Job 38

1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm.

2 "Who is this that belittles my advice with words that do not show any knowledge [about it]?

3 Brace yourself like a man! I will ask you, and you will teach me.

4 "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have [such] insight.

5 Who determined its dimensions? Certainly, you know! Who stretched a measuring line over it?

6 On what were its footings sunk? Who laid its cornerstone

7 when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8 "Who shut the sea behind gates when it burst through and came out of the womb,

9 when I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it up in dark clouds,

10 when I set a limit for it and put up bars and gates,

11 when I said, 'You may come this far but no farther. Here your proud waves will stop'?

12 "Have you ever given orders to the morning or assigned a place for the dawn

13 so that it could grab the earth by its edges and shake wicked people out of it?

14 The earth changes like clay stamped by a seal, and [parts of it] stand out like [folds in] clothing.

15 Wicked people are deprived of their light, and an arm raised [in victory] is broken.

16 Have you gone to the springs in the sea or walked through the valleys of the ocean depths?

17 Have the gateways to death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gateways to total darkness?

18 Have you [even] considered how wide the earth is? Tell me, if you know all of this!

19 "What is the way to the place where light lives? Where is the home of darkness

20 so that you may lead it to its territory, so that you may know the path to its home?

21 You must know because you were born then and have lived such a long time!

22 Have you been to the warehouses where snow is stored or seen the warehouses for hail

23 that I have stored up for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?

24 Which is the way to the place where light is scattered and the east wind is spread across the earth?

25 "Who made a channel for the flooding rains and a path for the thunderstorms

26 to bring rain on a land where no one lives, on a desert where there are no humans,

27 to saturate the desolate wasteland in order to make it sprout with grass?

28 Does the rain have a father? Who gave birth to the dewdrops?

29 From whose womb came the ice, and who has given birth to the frost in the air?

30 The water hardens like a stone, and the surface of the ocean freezes over.

31 "Can you connect the chains of the [constellation] Pleiades or untie the ropes of Orion?

32 Can you bring out the constellations at the right time or guide Ursa Major with its cubs?

33 Do you know the laws of the sky or make them rule the earth?

34 Can you call to the clouds and have a flood of water cover you?

35 Can you send lightning flashes so that they may go and say to you, 'Here we are'?

36 Who put wisdom in the heart or gave understanding to the mind?

37 Who is wise enough to count the clouds or pour out the water jars of heaven

38 when the dirt hardens into clumps and the soil clings together?

39 "Can you hunt prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of her cubs

40 as they crouch in their dens and lie ready to ambush from their lairs?

41 "Who provides food for the crow when its young ones cry to God and wander around in need of food?

Job 39

1 "Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch the does when they are in labor?

2 Can you count the months they are pregnant or know the time when they'll give birth?

3 They kneel down to give birth and deliver their young. Then the pain of giving birth is over.

4 Their young are healthy and grow up in the wild. They leave and don't come back.

5 "Who lets the wild donkey go free? Who unties the ropes of the wild donkey?

6 I gave it the desert to live in and the salt flats as its dwelling place.

7 It laughs at the noise of the city and doesn't [even] listen to the shouting of its master.

8 It explores the mountains for its pasture and looks for anything green.

9 "Will the wild ox agree to serve you, or will it stay at night beside your feeding trough?

10 Can you guide a wild ox in a furrow, or will it plow the valleys behind you?

11 Can you trust it just because it's so strong or leave your labor to it?

12 Can you rely on it to bring your grain back and take it to your threshing floor?

13 "Does the ostrich flap its wings in joy, or do its wings lack feathers?

14 It lays its eggs on the ground and warms them in the dust.

15 It forgets that a foot may crush them or a wild animal may trample them.

16 It acts harshly toward its young as if they weren't its own. It is not afraid that its work is for nothing

17 because God has deprived it of wisdom and did not give it any understanding.

18 It laughs at the horse and its rider when it gets up to flee.

19 "Can you give strength to a horse or dress its neck with a flowing mane?

20 Can you make it leap like a locust, when its snorting causes terror?

21 It paws in strength and finds joy in its power. It charges into battle.

22 It laughs at fear, is afraid of nothing, and doesn't back away from swords.

23 A quiver of arrows rattles on it along with the flashing spear and javelin.

24 Anxious and excited, the horse eats up the ground and doesn't trust the sound of the ram's horn.

25 As often as the horn sounds, the horse says, 'Aha!' and it smells the battle far away-- the thundering [orders] of the captains and the battle cries.

26 "Does your understanding make a bird of prey fly and spread its wings toward the south?

27 Is it by your order that the eagle flies high and makes its nest on the heights?

28 It perches for the night on a cliff. Its fortress is on a jagged peak.

29 From there it seeks food, and its eyes see it from far away.

30 Its young ones feed on blood. It is found wherever there are dead bodies."

Job 38; Job 39

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Job 38

Job 39