約伯記 第 38 章

And after Elious had ceased from speaking, the Lord spoke to Job through a whirlwind and clouds:

Who is this that hides counsel from me, keeping words in his heart, and thinks to hide from me?

Gird up your loins like a man; I will ask you, and you shall answer me.

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

Who set its measures, if you know? Or who stretched a line upon it?

On what are its rings fastened? And who is he that laid a corner stone upon it?

When the stars came into being, all my angels praised me with a loud voice.

And I shut up the sea with gates, when it burst forth raging out of its mother’s womb.

And I made the cloud its clothing, and swaddled it with mist.

And I set bounds for it, placing bars and gates around it.

And I said to it, “Thus far shall you come, and you shall not pass over, but your waves shall be broken within yourself.”

Was it in your time that I ordained the morning light, and the dawn-star saw its own place?

To lay hold of the wings of the earth, to shake the ungodly out of it.

Was it you who took clay of the earth and formed a living creature, and set it on the earth able to speak?

And did you take away the light from the ungodly, and crush the arm of the proud?

Have you come to the spring of the sea, and walked in the tracks of the deep?

Do the gates of death open to you in fear, and did the gatekeepers of Hades cower when they saw you?

Have you been instructed in the breadth of all that is under heaven? Tell me now how great it is.

In what land does the light dwell? And what is the place of darkness?

Could you lead me to their borders? And do you know their paths?

I know, then, that you were born at that time, and the number of your years is great.

Have you come to the treasuries of snow, and have you seen the treasuries of hail?

And they are laid up for you against the hour of enemies, for the day of war and battle.

From where does the hoarfrost come forth, or the south wind scatter over all that is under heaven?

And who prepared a course for the violent rain, and a way for the thunderclaps?

To bring rain upon a land where there is no man, upon a wilderness where no human being exists;

To satisfy the trackless and uninhabited land, and to make the springing grass sprout forth.

Who is the father of the rain? And who has begotten the drops of dew?

Out of whose womb comes the ice? And who has begotten the hoarfrost in heaven?

Which comes down like flowing water; and who has frozen the face of the deep?

Have you understood the band of the Pleiades, and have you opened the barrier of Orion?

Will you open up Mazouroth in its season, and will you lead them out, Hesperus by his hair?

Do you know the turnings of heaven, or the things that come to pass together under heaven?

Will you call a cloud with your voice, and will it obey you with a trembling of violent water?

Will you send forth thunderbolts, and will they go? And will they say to you, “What is it?”

And who gave to women the wisdom of weaving, or the knowledge of embroidery?

And who is he that numbers the clouds in wisdom, and who bowed heaven down to the earth?

The dust is poured out like earth, and I have cemented it together like a block of stone.

Will you hunt prey for lions, and satisfy the appetites of dragons?

For they crouch in fear in their dens, and lie in wait in the thickets.

And who prepared food for the raven? For its young ones cry to the Lord, wandering about in search of food.