ESV - Job Chapter 37 to 38

37 Elihu Proclaims God’s Majesty

37:1 “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^[1]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[2] 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.”^[3]

[1] Hebrew them [2] Or hovering [3] Hebrew in heart

38 The Lord Answers Job

38:1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

²“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? ³Dress for action[4] 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[5] 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[6] or given understanding to the mind?^[7]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?

[4] Hebrew Gird up your loins [5] Probably the name of a constellation [6] Or ibis [7] Or rooster