38:12 Have you ever in your life 1 commanded the morning,
or made the dawn know 2 its place,
38:13 that it might seize the corners of the earth, 3
and shake the wicked out of it?
38:14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; 4
its features 5 are dyed 6 like a garment.
38:15 Then from the wicked the light is withheld,
and the arm raised in violence 7 is broken. 8
38:16 Have you gone to the springs that fill the sea, 9
or walked about in the recesses of the deep?
38:17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? 10
Have you seen the gates of deepest darkness? 11
38:18 Have you considered the vast expanses of the earth?
Tell me, if you know it all!
38:19 “In what direction 12 does light reside,
and darkness, where is its place,
38:20 that you may take them to their borders
and perceive the pathways to their homes? 13
38:21 You know, for you were born before them; 14
and the number of your days is great!
38:22 Have you entered the storehouse 15 of the snow,
or seen the armory 16 of the hail,
38:23 which I reserve for the time of trouble,
for the day of war and battle? 17
38:24 In what direction is lightning 18 dispersed,
or the east winds scattered over the earth?
38:25 Who carves out a channel for the heavy rains,
and a path for the rumble of thunder,
38:26 to cause it to rain on an uninhabited land, 19
a desert where there are no human beings, 20
38:27 to satisfy a devastated and desolate land,
and to cause it to sprout with vegetation? 21
38:28 Does the rain have a father,
or who has fathered the drops of the dew?
38:29 From whose womb does the ice emerge,
and the frost from the sky, 22 who gives birth to it,
38:30 when the waters become hard 23 like stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen solid?
38:31 Can you tie the bands 24 of the Pleiades,
or release the cords of Orion?
38:32 Can you lead out
the constellations 25 in their seasons,
or guide the Bear with its cubs? 26
38:33 Do you know the laws of the heavens,
or can you set up their rule over the earth?
38:34 Can you raise your voice to the clouds
so that a flood of water covers you? 27
38:35 Can you send out lightning bolts, and they go?
Will they say to you, ‘Here we are’?
38:36 Who has put wisdom in the heart, 28
or has imparted understanding to the mind?
38:37 Who by wisdom can count the clouds,
and who can tip over 29 the water jars of heaven,
38:38 when the dust hardens 30 into a mass,
and the clumps of earth stick together?