Dual Panel1Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind:
2"Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words?
3Brace yourself, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.
4"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much.
5Do you know how its dimensions were determined and who did the surveying?
6What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone
7as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?
8"Who defined the boundaries of the sea as it burst from the womb,
9and as I clothed it with clouds and thick darkness?
10For I locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores.
11I said, ‘Thus far and no farther will you come. Here your proud waves must stop!’
12"Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east?
13Have you ever told the daylight to spread to the ends of the earth, to bring an end to the night’s wickedness?
14For the features of the earth take shape as the light approaches, and the dawn is robed in red.
15The light disturbs the haunts of the wicked, and it stops the arm that is raised in violence.
16"Have you explored the springs from which the seas come? Have you walked about and explored their depths?
17Do you know where the gates of death are located? Have you seen the gates of utter gloom?
18Do you realize the extent of the earth? Tell me about it if you know!
19"Where does the light come from, and where does the darkness go?
20Can you take it to its home? Do you know how to get there?
21But of course you know all this! For you were born before it was all created, and you are so very experienced!
22"Have you visited the treasuries of the snow? Have you seen where the hail is made and stored?
23I have reserved it for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war.
24Where is the path to the origin of light? Where is the home of the east wind?
25"Who created a channel for the torrents of rain? Who laid out the path for the lightning?
26Who makes the rain fall on barren land, in a desert where no one lives?
27Who sends the rain that satisfies the parched ground and makes the tender grass spring up?
28"Does the rain have a father? Where does dew come from?
29Who is the mother of the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens?
30For the water turns to ice as hard as rock, and the surface of the water freezes.
31"Can you hold back the movements of the stars? Are you able to restrain the Pleiades or Orion?
32Can you ensure the proper sequence of the seasons or guide the constellation of the Bear with her cubs across the heavens?
33Do you know the laws of the universe and how God rules the earth?
34"Can you shout to the clouds and make it rain?
35Can you make lightning appear and cause it to strike as you direct it?
36Who gives intuition and instinct?
37Who is wise enough to count all the clouds? Who can tilt the water jars of heaven,
38turning the dry dust to clumps of mud?
39"Can you stalk prey for a lioness and satisfy the young lions’ appetites
40as they lie in their dens or crouch in the thicket?
41Who provides food for the ravens when their young cry out to God as they wander about in hunger?