1Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: (Job 13:22; Job 40:6)2“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? (Job 35:16; Job 42:3)3Dress for action[1] like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. (1Ki 18:46)4“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. (Ps 104:5; Pr 8:24; Pr 30:4; Isa 40:12)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? (Job 1:6; Ps 19:1; Lu 2:13)8“Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, (Ge 1:9; Ps 33:7; Ps 104:8; Jer 5:22)9when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, (Job 22:13)10and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, (Job 38:33)11and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’? (Ps 65:7; Ps 89:9; Ps 93:4)12“Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, (Ps 65:8; Ps 74:16)13that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? (Ne 5:13; Job 37:3)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. (Job 18:5; Job 24:13; Ps 10:15; Ps 37:17; Eze 30:21; Mt 6:23)16“Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep? (Ps 77:19)17Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? (Job 3:5; Ps 9:13; Ps 107:18; Isa 38:10; Mt 16:18)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? (Job 24:13)21You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great! (Job 15:7)22“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, (Ps 135:7)23which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? (Jos 10:11; Job 37:13; Isa 28:17; Isa 30:30; Eze 13:11; Eze 13:13; Eze 38:22; Re 16:21)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, (Job 28:26)26to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man, (Job 37:13; Ps 107:35)27to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass? (Ge 1:11; 2Sa 23:4)28“Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew? (Ps 147:8; Jer 14:22)29From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven? (Ps 147:16)30The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. (Job 37:10)31“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion? (Job 9:9; Am 5:8)32Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth[2] in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children? (Job 38:31)33Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth? (Jer 31:35)34“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you? (Job 22:11)35Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’?36Who has put wisdom in the inward parts[3] or given understanding to the mind?[4] (Job 32:8; Ps 51:6)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? (Job 21:33)39“Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, (Ps 104:21)40when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket? (Job 37:8; Ps 17:12)41Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food? (Ps 147:9; Mt 6:26; Lu 12:24)