1 And Jehovah answereth Job out of the whirlwind, and saith: — 2 Who [is] this — darkening counsel, By words without knowledge? 3 Gird, I pray thee, as a man, thy loins, And I ask thee, and cause thou Me to know. 4 Where wast thou when I founded earth? Declare, if thou hast known understanding. 5 Who placed its measures — if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched out upon it a line? 6 On what have its sockets been sunk? Or who hath cast its corner-stone? 7 In the singing together of stars of morning, And all sons of God shout for joy, 8 And He shutteth up with doors the sea, In its coming forth, from the womb it goeth out. 9 In My making a cloud its clothing, And thick darkness its swaddling band, 10 And I measure over it My statute, And place bar and doors, 11 And say, 'Hitherto come thou, and add not, And a command is placed On the pride of thy billows.' 12 Hast thou commanded morning since thy days? Causest thou the dawn to know its place? 13 To take hold on the skirts of the earth, And the wicked are shaken out of it, 14 It turneth itself as clay of a seal And they station themselves as clothed. 15 And withheld from the wicked is their light, And the arm lifted up is broken. 16 Hast thou come in to springs of the sea? And in searching the deep Hast thou walked up and down? 17 Revealed to thee were the gates of death? And the gates of death-shade dost thou see? 18 Thou hast understanding, Even unto the broad places of earth! Declare — if thou hast known it all. 19 Where [is] this — the way light dwelleth? And darkness, where [is] this — its place? 20 That thou dost take it unto its boundary, And that thou dost understand The paths of its house. 21 Thou hast known — for then thou art born And the number of thy days [are] many! 22 Hast thou come in unto the treasure of snow? Yea, the treasures of hail dost thou see? 23 That I have kept back for a time of distress, For a day of conflict and battle. 24 Where [is] this, the way light is apportioned? It scattereth an east wind over the earth. 25 Who hath divided for the flood a conduit? And a way for the lightning of the voices? 26 To cause [it] to rain on a land — no man, A wilderness — no man in it. 27 To satisfy a desolate and waste place, And to cause to shoot up The produce of the tender grass? 28 Hath the rain a father? Or who hath begotten the drops of dew? 29 From whose belly came forth the ice? And the hoar-frost of the heavens, Who hath begotten it? 30 As a stone waters are hidden, And the face of the deep is captured. 31 Dost thou bind sweet influences of Kimah? Or the attractions of Kesil dost thou open? 32 Dost thou bring out Mazzaroth in its season? And Aysh for her sons dost thou comfort? 33 Hast thou known the statutes of heaven? Or dost thou appoint Its dominion in the earth? 34 Dost thou lift up to the cloud thy voice, And abundance of water doth cover thee? 35 Dost thou send out lightnings, and they go And say unto thee, 'Behold us?' 36 Who hath put in the inward parts wisdom? Or who hath given To the covered part understanding? 37 Who doth number the clouds by wisdom? And the bottles of the heavens, Who doth cause to lie down, 38 In the hardening of dust into hardness, And clods cleave together? 39 Dost thou hunt for a lion prey? And the desire of young lions fulfil? 40 When they bow down in dens — Abide in a thicket for a covert? 41 Who doth prepare for a raven his provision, When his young ones cry unto God? They wander without food.
Job · Young's Literal Translation
Job 38 Young's Literal Translation
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (40)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Job 40:6; 2 Kings 2:11; Job 37:1–2; Exodus 19:16–19; 1 Kings 19:11
- 2 Job 42:3; Job 35:16; 1 Timothy 1:7; Job 34:35; Job 27:11
- 3 Job 40:7; Jeremiah 1:17; Exodus 12:11; 1 Kings 18:46; 1 Peter 1:13
- 4 Psalm 104:5; Hebrews 1:10; Proverbs 30:4; Hebrews 1:2; Psalm 102:25
- 5 Isaiah 40:12; Job 11:9; Zechariah 2:1–2; Proverbs 8:27; Isaiah 40:22
- 6 Job 26:7; Psalm 104:5; Psalm 93:1; Isaiah 28:16; 2 Peter 3:5
- 7 Revelation 5:11; Job 1:6; Ezra 3:11–12; Revelation 22:16; Revelation 2:28
- 8 Genesis 1:9; Proverbs 8:29; Jeremiah 5:22; Psalm 104:8–9; Psalm 33:7
- 9 Genesis 1:2
- 10 Jeremiah 5:22; Psalm 104:9; Psalm 33:7; Job 26:10; Genesis 1:9–10
- 11 Psalm 89:9; Proverbs 8:29; Psalm 65:6–7; Luke 8:32–33; Mark 4:39–41
- 12 Psalm 74:16; Psalm 148:3–5; Genesis 1:5; Job 8:9; Psalm 136:7–8
- 13 Psalm 104:35; Job 37:3; Exodus 14:27; Psalm 104:21–22; Job 24:13–17
- 14 Psalm 104:6; Psalm 104:2
- 15 Psalm 10:15; Psalm 37:17; Job 18:5; Proverbs 4:19; Ezekiel 30:22
- 16 Proverbs 8:24; Psalm 77:19; Job 26:5–6; Jeremiah 51:36
- 17 Psalm 9:13; Psalm 107:18; Job 3:5; Job 12:22; Psalm 107:14
- 18 Revelation 20:9; Psalm 89:11–12; Jeremiah 31:37; Isaiah 40:28; Job 28:24
- 19 Ezekiel 32:8; Matthew 27:45; Isaiah 45:7; Genesis 1:3–4; Amos 4:13
- 20 Job 26:10; Genesis 10:19; Genesis 23:17
- 21 Job 15:7; Job 38:4; Job 38:12
- 22 Job 37:6; Psalm 135:7; Psalm 33:7; Job 6:16
- 23 Joshua 10:11; Isaiah 30:30; Revelation 16:21; Exodus 9:18; Job 36:13
- 24 Job 38:12–13; Jonah 4:8; Matthew 24:27
- 25 Job 28:26; Psalm 29:3–10; Job 36:27–28; Job 37:3–6
- 26 Jeremiah 14:22; Psalm 107:35; Hebrews 6:7–8; Isaiah 35:1–2; Isaiah 43:19–20
- 27 Psalm 107:35; Psalm 104:14
- 28 Jeremiah 14:22; Psalm 147:8; Jeremiah 10:13; Proverbs 3:20; Deuteronomy 33:13
- 29 Psalm 147:16–17; Job 37:10; Job 6:16; Job 38:8
- 30 Job 37:10
- 31 Amos 5:8; Job 9:9
- 32 Job 38:31; 2 Kings 23:5; Job 9:9
- 33 Jeremiah 31:35–36; Genesis 8:22; Psalm 148:6; Job 38:12–13; Jeremiah 33:25
- 34 Job 22:11; Zechariah 10:1; James 5:18; Job 36:27–28; 1 Samuel 12:18
- 35 Job 36:32; Job 37:3; 2 Kings 1:14; Revelation 11:5–6; Numbers 16:35
- 36 Job 32:8; Psalm 51:6; Proverbs 2:6; Ecclesiastes 2:26; James 1:5
- 37 Psalm 147:4; Genesis 9:15; Genesis 8:1; Genesis 15:5
- 39 Psalm 104:21; Job 4:10–11; Psalm 34:10; Psalm 145:15–16
- 40 Job 37:8; Numbers 24:9; Numbers 23:24; Genesis 49:9
- 41 Luke 12:24; Matthew 6:26; Psalm 147:9; Psalm 104:27–28
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Who is the father of the rain? And who hath begotten the drops of dew?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
And yet, O talkative Dialectician, I will ask thee one small question, and answer thou me, as He saith to Job, Who through whirlwind and cloud giveth Divine admonitions. Are there many mansions in God's House, as thou hast heard, or only one?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
Put then a limit to your thought, so that your curiosity in investigating the incomprehensible may not incur the reproaches of Job, and you be not asked by him, "Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened?" If ever you hear in the Psalms, "I bear up the pillars of it;" see in these pillars the power which sustains it.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)
… condensed the air into clouds, and bade them carry the waters of the rain, now bringing golden-tinted clouds from the north, now changing these into one uniform appearance, and again transforming them into manifold circles and other shapes? Who can number the clouds in wisdom?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
Whereof in Job it saith, And He knoweth the separations of the clouds, and hath bent down the heaven to the earth: and, He who numbereth the clouds in wisdom: and, the cloud is not rent under Him.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)