Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹Then Job answered and said:

²“How you have helped him who has no power! How you have saved the arm that has no strength!

³How you have counseled him who has no wisdom, and plentifully declared sound knowledge!

⁴With whose help have you uttered words, and whose breath has come out from you?

⁵The dead tremble under the waters and their inhabitants.

⁶Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.

⁷He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing.

⁸He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not split open under them.

⁹He covers the face of the full moon and spreads over it his cloud.

¹⁰He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.

¹¹The pillars of heaven tremble and are astounded at his rebuke.

¹²By his power he stilled the sea; by his understanding he shattered Rahab.

¹³By his wind the heavens were made fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.

¹⁴Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

¹And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

²“As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,

³as long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,

⁴my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit.

⁵Far be it from me to say that you are right; till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.

⁶I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

⁷“Let my enemy be as the wicked, and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.

⁸For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off, when God takes away his life?

⁹Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him?

¹⁰Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?

¹¹I will teach you concerning the hand of God; what is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

¹²Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain?

¹³“This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:

¹⁴If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword, and his descendants have not enough bread.

¹⁵Those who survive him the pestilence buries, and his widows do not weep.

¹⁶Though he heap up silver like dust, and pile up clothing like clay,

¹⁷he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver.

¹⁸He builds his house like a moth's, like a booth that a watchman makes.

¹⁹He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more; he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone.

²⁰Terrors overtake him like a flood; in the night a whirlwind carries him off.

²¹The east wind lifts him up and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place.

²²It hurls at him without pity; he flees from its power in headlong flight.

²³It claps its hands at him and hisses at him from its place.

¹“Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold that they refine.

²Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted from the ore.

³Man puts an end to darkness and searches out to the farthest limit the ore in gloom and deep darkness.

⁴He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives; they are forgotten by travelers; they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro.

⁵As for the earth, out of it comes bread, but underneath it is turned up as by fire.

⁶Its stones are the place of sapphires, and it has dust of gold.

⁷“That path no bird of prey knows, and the falcon's eye has not seen it.

⁸The proud beasts have not trodden it; the lion has not passed over it.

⁹“Man puts his hand to the flinty rock and overturns mountains by the roots.

¹⁰He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing.

¹¹He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle, and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.

¹²“But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?

¹³Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living.

¹⁴The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’ and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’

¹⁵It cannot be bought for gold, and silver cannot be weighed as its price.

¹⁶It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire.

¹⁷Gold and glass cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.

¹⁸No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal; the price of wisdom is above pearls.

¹⁹The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, nor can it be valued in pure gold.

²⁰“From where, then, does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding?

²¹It is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the air.

²²Abaddon and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

²³“God understands the way to it, and he knows its place.

²⁴For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.

²⁵When he gave to the wind its weight and apportioned the waters by measure,

²⁶when he made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder,

²⁷then he saw it and declared it; he established it, and searched it out.

²⁸And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

¹And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

²“Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me,

³when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness,

⁴as I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was upon my tent,

⁵when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were all around me,

⁶when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

⁷When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the square,

⁸the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose and stood;

⁹the princes refrained from talking and laid their hand on their mouth;

¹⁰the voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

¹¹When the ear heard, it called me blessed, and when the eye saw, it approved,

¹²because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him.

¹³The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban.

¹⁵I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.

¹⁶I was a father to the needy, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.

¹⁷I broke the fangs of the unrighteous and made him drop his prey from his teeth.

¹⁸Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand,

¹⁹my roots spread out to the waters, with the dew all night on my branches,

²⁰my glory fresh with me, and my bow ever new in my hand.’

²¹“Men listened to me and waited and kept silence for my counsel.

²²After I spoke they did not speak again, and my word dropped upon them.

²³They waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.

²⁴I smiled on them when they had no confidence, and the light of my face they did not cast down.

²⁵I chose their way and sat as chief, and I lived like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners.

¹“But now they laugh at me, men who are younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.

²What could I gain from the strength of their hands, men whose vigor is gone?

³Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation;

⁴they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes, and the roots of the broom tree for their food.

⁵They are driven out from human company; they shout after them as after a thief.

⁶In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell, in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

⁷Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they huddle together.

⁸A senseless, a nameless brood, they have been whipped out of the land.

⁹“And now I have become their song; I am a byword to them.

¹⁰They abhor me; they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.

¹¹Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.

¹²On my right hand the rabble rise; they push away my feet; they cast up against me their ways of destruction.

¹³They break up my path; they promote my calamity; they need no one to help them.

¹⁴As through a wide breach they come; amid the crash they roll on.

¹⁵Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

¹⁶“And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me.

¹⁷The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.

¹⁸With great force my garment is disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.

¹⁹God has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.

²⁰I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me.

²¹You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me.

²²You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.

²³For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living.

²⁴“Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, and in his disaster cry for help?

²⁵Did not I weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

²⁶But when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, darkness came.

²⁷My inward parts are in turmoil and never still; days of affliction come to meet me.

²⁸I go about darkened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

²⁹I am a brother of jackals and a companion of ostriches.

³⁰My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat.

³¹My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.

¹“I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?

²What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high?

³Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity?

⁴Does not he see my ways and number all my steps?

⁵“If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit;

⁶(Let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!)

⁷if my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck to my hands,

⁸then let me sow, and another eat, and let what grows for me be rooted out.

⁹“If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door,

¹⁰then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down on her.

¹¹For that would be a heinous crime; that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;

¹²for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my increase.

¹³“If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me,

¹⁴what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?

¹⁵Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?

¹⁶“If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

¹⁷or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it

¹⁸(for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother's womb I guided the widow ),

¹⁹if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or the needy without covering,

²⁰if his body has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,

²¹if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate,

²²then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket.

²³For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty.

²⁴“If I have made gold my trust or called fine gold my confidence,

²⁵if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant or because my hand had found much,

²⁶if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor,

²⁷and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand,

²⁸this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have been false to God above.

²⁹“If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him

³⁰(I have not let my mouth sin by asking for his life with a curse),

³¹if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?’

³²(the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler),

³³if I have concealed my transgressions as others do by hiding my iniquity in my heart,

³⁴because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors —

³⁵Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!

³⁶Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown;

³⁷I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him.

³⁸“If my land has cried out against me and its furrows have wept together,

³⁹if I have eaten its yield without payment and made its owners breathe their last,

⁴⁰let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.

¹So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

²Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God.

³He burned with anger also at Job's three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong.

⁴Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he.

⁵And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he burned with anger.

⁶And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said: “I am young in years, and you are aged; therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you.

⁷I said, ‘Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom.’

⁸But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.

⁹It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right.

¹⁰Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me; let me also declare my opinion.’

¹¹“Behold, I waited for your words, I listened for your wise sayings, while you searched out what to say.

¹²I gave you my attention, and, behold, there was none among you who refuted Job or who answered his words.

¹³Beware lest you say, ‘We have found wisdom; God may vanquish him, not a man.’

¹⁴He has not directed his words against me, and I will not answer him with your speeches.

¹⁵“They are dismayed; they answer no more; they have not a word to say.

¹⁶And shall I wait, because they do not speak, because they stand there, and answer no more?

¹⁷I also will answer with my share; I also will declare my opinion.

¹⁸For I am full of words; the spirit within me constrains me.

¹⁹Behold, my belly is like wine that has no vent; like new wineskins ready to burst.

²⁰I must speak, that I may find relief; I must open my lips and answer.

²¹I will not show partiality to any man or use flattery toward any person.

²²For I do not know how to flatter, else my Maker would soon take me away.

¹“But now, hear my speech, O Job, and listen to all my words.

²Behold, I open my mouth; the tongue in my mouth speaks.

³My words declare the uprightness of my heart, and what my lips know they speak sincerely.

⁴The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

⁵Answer me, if you can; set your words in order before me; take your stand.

⁶Behold, I am toward God as you are; I too was pinched off from a piece of clay.

⁷Behold, no fear of me need terrify you; my pressure will not be heavy upon you.

⁸“Surely you have spoken in my ears, and I have heard the sound of your words.

⁹You say, ‘I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me.

¹⁰Behold, he finds occasions against me, he counts me as his enemy,

¹¹he puts my feet in the stocks and watches all my paths.’

¹²“Behold, in this you are not right. I will answer you, for God is greater than man.

¹³Why do you contend against him, saying, ‘He will answer none of man's words’?

¹⁴For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it.

¹⁵In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, while they slumber on their beds,

¹⁶then he opens the ears of men and terrifies them with warnings,

¹⁷that he may turn man aside from his deed and conceal pride from a man;

¹⁸he keeps back his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword.

¹⁹“Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed and with continual strife in his bones,

²⁰so that his life loathes bread, and his appetite the choicest food.

²¹His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not seen stick out.

²²His soul draws near the pit, and his life to those who bring death.

²³If there be for him an angel, a mediator, one of the thousand, to declare to man what is right for him,

²⁴and he is merciful to him, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom;

²⁵let his flesh become fresh with youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor’;

²⁶then man prays to God, and he accepts him; he sees his face with a shout of joy, and he restores to man his righteousness.

²⁷He sings before men and says: ‘I sinned and perverted what was right, and it was not repaid to me.

²⁸He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall look upon the light.’

²⁹“Behold, God does all these things, twice, three times, with a man,

³⁰to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be lighted with the light of life.

³¹Pay attention, O Job, listen to me; be silent, and I will speak.

³²If you have any words, answer me; speak, for I desire to justify you.

³³If not, listen to me; be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

¹Then Elihu answered and said:

²“Hear my words, you wise men, and give ear to me, you who know;

³for the ear tests words as the palate tastes food.

⁴Let us choose what is right; let us know among ourselves what is good.

⁵For Job has said, ‘I am in the right, and God has taken away my right;

⁶in spite of my right I am counted a liar; my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’

⁷What man is like Job, who drinks up scoffing like water,

⁸who travels in company with evildoers and walks with wicked men?

⁹For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing that he should take delight in God.’

¹⁰“Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding: far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong.

¹¹For according to the work of a man he will repay him, and according to his ways he will make it befall him.

¹²Of a truth, God will not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice.

¹³Who gave him charge over the earth, and who laid on him the whole world?

¹⁴If he should set his heart to it and gather to himself his spirit and his breath,

¹⁵all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.

¹⁶“If you have understanding, hear this; listen to what I say.

¹⁷Shall one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty,

¹⁸who says to a king, ‘Worthless one,’ and to nobles, ‘Wicked man,’

¹⁹who shows no partiality to princes, nor regards the rich more than the poor, for they are all the work of his hands?

²⁰In a moment they die; at midnight the people are shaken and pass away, and the mighty are taken away by no human hand.

²¹“For his eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps.

²²There is no gloom or deep darkness where evildoers may hide themselves.

²³For God has no need to consider a man further, that he should go before God in judgment.

²⁴He shatters the mighty without investigation and sets others in their place.

²⁵Thus, knowing their works, he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed.

²⁶He strikes them for their wickedness in a place for all to see,

²⁷because they turned aside from following him and had no regard for any of his ways,

²⁸so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him, and he heard the cry of the afflicted —

²⁹When he is quiet, who can condemn? When he hides his face, who can behold him, whether it be a nation or a man? —

³⁰that a godless man should not reign, that he should not ensnare the people.

³¹“For has anyone said to God, ‘I have borne punishment; I will not offend any more;

³²teach me what I do not see; if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?

³³Will he then make repayment to suit you, because you reject it? For you must choose, and not I; therefore declare what you know.

³⁴Men of understanding will say to me, and the wise man who hears me will say:

³⁵‘Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight.’

³⁶Would that Job were tried to the end, because he answers like wicked men.

³⁷For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.”

¹And Elihu answered and said:

²“Do you think this to be just? Do you say, ‘It is my right before God,’

³that you ask, ‘What advantage have I? How am I better off than if I had sinned?’

⁴I will answer you and your friends with you.

⁵Look at the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds, which are higher than you.

⁶If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?

⁷If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand?

⁸Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself, and your righteousness a son of man.

⁹“Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out; they call for help because of the arm of the mighty.

¹⁰But none says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,

¹¹who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’

¹²There they cry out, but he does not answer, because of the pride of evil men.

¹³Surely God does not hear an empty cry, nor does the Almighty regard it.

¹⁴How much less when you say that you do not see him, that the case is before him, and you are waiting for him!

¹⁵And now, because his anger does not punish, and he does not take much note of transgression,

¹⁶Job opens his mouth in empty talk; he multiplies words without knowledge.”

¹And Elihu continued, and said:

²“Bear with me a little, and I will show you, for I have yet something to say on God's behalf.

³I will get my knowledge from afar and ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

⁴For truly my words are not false; one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.

⁵“Behold, God is mighty, and does not despise any; he is mighty in strength of understanding.

⁶He does not keep the wicked alive, but gives the afflicted their right.

⁷He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but with kings on the throne he sets them forever, and they are exalted.

⁸And if they are bound in chains and caught in the cords of affliction,

⁹then he declares to them their work and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly.

¹⁰He opens their ears to instruction and commands that they return from iniquity.

¹¹If they listen and serve him, they complete their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasantness.

¹²But if they do not listen, they perish by the sword and die without knowledge.

¹³“The godless in heart cherish anger; they do not cry for help when he binds them.

¹⁴They die in youth, and their life ends among the cult prostitutes.

¹⁵He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.

¹⁶He also allured you out of distress into a broad place where there was no cramping, and what was set on your table was full of fatness.

¹⁷“But you are full of the judgment on the wicked; judgment and justice seize you.

¹⁸Beware lest wrath entice you into scoffing, and let not the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.

¹⁹Will your cry for help avail to keep you from distress, or all the force of your strength?

²⁰Do not long for the night, when peoples vanish in their place.

²¹Take care; do not turn to iniquity, for this you have chosen rather than affliction.

²²Behold, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him?

²³Who has prescribed for him his way, or who can say, ‘You have done wrong’?

²⁴“Remember to extol his work, of which men have sung.

²⁵All mankind has looked on it; man beholds it from afar.

²⁶Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable.

²⁷For he draws up the drops of water; they distill his mist in rain,

²⁸which the skies pour down and drop on mankind abundantly.

²⁹Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, the thunderings of his pavilion?

³⁰Behold, he scatters his lightning about him and covers the roots of the sea.

³¹For by these he judges peoples; he gives food in abundance.

³²He covers his hands with the lightning and commands it to strike the mark.

³³Its crashing declares his presence; the cattle also declare that he rises.

¹“At this also my heart trembles and leaps out of its place.

²Keep listening to the thunder of his voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.

³Under the whole heaven he lets it go, and his lightning to the corners of the earth.

⁴After it his voice roars; he thunders with his majestic voice, and he does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard.

⁵God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend.

⁶For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth,’ likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour.

⁷He seals up the hand of every man, that all men whom he made may know it.

⁸Then the beasts go into their lairs, and remain in their dens.

⁹From its chamber comes the whirlwind, and cold from the scattering winds.

¹⁰By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast.

¹¹He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning.

¹²They turn around and around by his guidance, to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world.

¹³Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen.

¹⁴“Hear this, O Job; stop and consider the wondrous works of God.

¹⁵Do you know how God lays his command upon them and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?

¹⁶Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge,

¹⁷you whose garments are hot when the earth is still because of the south wind?

¹⁸Can you, like him, spread out the skies, hard as a cast metal mirror?

¹⁹Teach us what we shall say to him; we cannot draw up our case because of darkness.

²⁰Shall it be told him that I would speak? Did a man ever wish that he would be swallowed up?

²¹“And now no one looks on the light when it is bright in the skies, when the wind has passed and cleared them.

²²Out of the north comes golden splendor; God is clothed with awesome majesty.

²³The Almighty — we cannot find him; he is great in power; justice and abundant righteousness he will not violate.

²⁴Therefore men fear him; he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.”

¹Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

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

³Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.

⁴“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

⁵Who determined its measurements — surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?

⁶On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,

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

⁸“Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb,

⁹when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band,

¹⁰and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors,

¹¹and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

¹²“Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,

¹³that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?

¹⁴It is changed like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment.

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

¹⁶“Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?

¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

¹⁸Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.

¹⁹“Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness,

²⁰that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home?

²¹You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!

²²“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

²³which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?

²⁴What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?

²⁵“Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt,

²⁶to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man,

²⁷to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass?

²⁸“Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew?

²⁹From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven?

³⁰The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

³¹“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion?

³²Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children?

³³Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?

³⁴“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you?

³⁵Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’?

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

³⁷Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,

³⁸when the dust runs into a mass and the clods stick fast together?

³⁹“Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

⁴⁰when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket?

⁴¹Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?