CHAPTER 38
God interposes and shews from the things he hath made, that man cannot comprehend his power and wisdom.
T
HEN the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind, and said:
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Who is this that wrappeth up sentences in unskilful words?
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Gird up thy loins like a man: I will ask thee, and answer thou me.
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Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? tell me if thou hast understanding.
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Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest or who hath stretched the line upon it?
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Upon what are its bases grounded? or who laid the corner stone thereof,
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When the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody?
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Who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth as issuing out of the womb:
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When I made a cloud the garment thereof, and wrapped it in a mist as in swaddling bands?
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I set my bounds around it, and made it bars and doors:
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And I said: Hitherto thou shalt come, and shalt go no further, and here thou shalt break thy swelling waves.
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Didst thou since thy birth command the morning, and shew the dawning of the day its place?
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And didst thou hold the extremities of the earth shaking them, and hast thou shaken the ungodly out of it?
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The seal shall be restored as clay, and shall stand as a garment.
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From the wicked their light shall be taken away, and the high arm shall be broken.
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Hast thou entered into the depths of the sea, and walked in the lowest parts of the deep?
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Have the gates of death been opened to thee, and hast thou seen the darksome doors?
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Hast thou considered the breadth of the earth? tell me, if thou knowest all things?
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Where is the way where light dwelleth, and where is the place of darkness?
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That thou mayst bring every thing to its own bounds, and understand the paths of the house thereof.
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Didst thou know then that thou shouldst be born? and didst thou know the number of thy days?
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Hast thou entered into the storehouses of the snow, or hast thou beheld the treasures of the hail:
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Which I have prepared for the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war?
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By what way is the light spread, and heat divided upon the earth?
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Who gave a course to violent showers, or a way for noisy thunder:
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That it should rain on the earth without man in the wilderness, where no mortal dwelleth:
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That it should fill the desert and desolate land, and should bring forth green grass?
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Who is the father of rain? or who begot the drops of dew?
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Out of whose womb came the ice? and the frost from heaven who hath gendered it?
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The waters are hardened like a stone, and the surface of the deep is congealed.
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Shalt thou be able to join together the shining stars the Pleiades, or canst thou stop the turning about of Arcturus?
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Canst thou bring forth the day star in its time, and make the evening star to rise upon the children of the earth?
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Dost thou know the order of heaven, and canst thou set down the reason thereof on the earth?
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Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that an abundance of waters may cover thee?
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Canst thou send lightnings, and will they go, and will they return and say to thee: Here we are?
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Who hath put wisdom in the heart of man? or who gave the cock understanding?
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Who can declare the order of the heavens, or who can make the harmony of heaven to sleep?
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When was the dust poured on the earth, and the clods fastened together?
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Wilt thou take the prey for the lioness, and satisfy the appetite of her whelps,
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When they couch in the dens and lie in wait in holes?
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Who provideth food for the raven, when her young ones cry to God, wandering about, because they have no meat?