Job 38 – Studienbibel

1 And Jehovah answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,

2 Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

3 Gird up now ŷour loins like a man; and I will demand of ŷou, and inform ŷou me.

4 Where were ŷou when I founded the earth? Declare, if ŷou have understanding.

5 Who set the measures of it—if ŷou know? or who stretched a line upon it?

6 Upon which were the foundations of it sunken? or who laid its corner-stone,

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

8 And who shut up the sea with doors, when it burst forth, issuing out of the womb?

9 When I made the cloud its garment, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it;

10 When I cut out for it my boundary, and set bars and doors,

11 And said, To here shall ŷou come and no further, and here shall ŷour proud waves be stopped?

12 Have ŷou since ŷour days commanded the morning? have ŷou caused the dawn to know its place,

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

14 It is changed like the signet-clay; and all things stand forth as in a garment:

15 And from the wicked their light is withheld, and the uplifted arm is broken.

16 Have ŷou entered as far as the springs of the sea? and have ŷou walked in the recesses of the deep?

17 Have the gates of death been revealed unto ŷou? and have ŷou seen the gates of the shadow of death?

18 Has ŷour understanding compassed the breadths of the earth? Declare if ŷou know it all.

19 Where is the way to where light lives? and the darkness, where is its place,

20 That ŷou should take it to its bound, and that ŷou should know the paths to its house?

21 Ŷou know, for ŷou were then born, and the number of ŷour days is great!

22 Have ŷou entered into the storehouses of the snow, and have ŷou seen the treasuries of the hail,

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

24 By what way is the light parted, and the east wind scattered upon the earth?

25 Who has divided a channel for the rain-flood, and a way for the thunder’s flash;

26 To cause it to rain on the earth, where no one is; on the wilderness in which there is not a man;

27 To satisfy the desolate and waste ground, and to cause the sprout of the grass to spring forth?

28 Has the rain a father? or who begets the drops of dew?

29 Out of whose womb comes the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who brings it forth?

30 When the waters lie hidden as in stone, and the face of the deep holds fast together.

31 Can ŷou fasten the bands of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?

32 Do ŷou bring forth the constellations each in its season? or do ŷou guide the Bear with her sons?

33 know ŷou the ordinances of the heavens? do ŷou determine their rule over the earth?

34 Do ŷou lift up ŷour voice to the clouds, that floods of waters may cover ŷou?

35 Do ŷou send forth lightnings that they may go, and say unto ŷou, Here we are?

36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? or who has given understanding to the mind?

37 Who numbers the clouds with wisdom? or who pours out the bottles of the heavens,

38 When the dust runs as into a molten mass, and the clods cleave fast together?

39 Do ŷou hunt the prey for the lioness, and do ŷou satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

40 When they crouch in their dens, and abide in the thicket to lie in wait?

41 Who provides for the raven his food, when his young ones cry unto ∙God, and they wander for lack of meat?