Taken from Job 38:1 - 40:4
Starting with 38:1, Jehovah answered Job out of the windstorm: “Who is this who is obscuring my counsel and speaking without knowledge? Brace yourself, please, like a man; I will question you, and you tell me.
Question 1. Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell me, if you think you understand.
2. Who set its measurements in case you know?
3. Who stretched a measuring line across it?
4. Into what were its pedestals sunk?
5. Who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars joyfully cried out together, and all the angels began shouting in applause?
6. Who barricaded the sea behind doors when it burst out from the womb, when I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it in thick gloom, when I established my limit for it and put its bars and doors in place, and I said, ‘You may come this far, and no farther; Here is where your proud waves will stop’?
7. Have you ever commanded the morning or made the dawn know its place, to take hold of the ends of the earth and to shake the wicked out of it?
8. Have you gone down to the sources of the sea or explored the deep waters?
9. Have the gates of death been revealed to you?
10. Have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
11. Have you understood the vast expanse of the earth? Tell me, if you know all of this.
12. In which direction does the light reside?
13. Where is the place of darkness, that you should take it to its territory and understand the paths to its home?
14. Do you know this because you were already born and the number of your age is great?
15. Have you entered the storehouses of the snow?
16. Have you seen the storehouses of the hail, which I have reserved for the time of distress, for the day of battle and war?
17. From what direction is light dispersed, and from where does the east wind blow on the earth?
18. Who has cut a channel for the flood and made a path for the thunderous storm cloud, to make it rain where no man lives, on the wilderness where there are no humans, to satisfy devastated wastelands and cause the grass to sprout?
19. Does the rain have a father?
20. Who fathered the dewdrops?
21. From whose womb did the ice emerge?
22. Who gave birth to the frost of heaven when the waters are covered as if with stone, and the surface of the deep waters is frozen solid?
23. Can you tie the ropes of the Taurus constellation, or untie the cords of the Orion constellation?
24. Can you lead out a constellation in its season or guide the Ash constellation along with its sons?
25. Do you know the laws governing the heavens, or can you impose their authority on the earth?
26. Can you raise your voice to the clouds to cause a flood of water to cover you?
27. Can you send out lightning bolts?
28. Will they come and say to you, ‘Here we are!’?
29. Who put wisdom within the clouds or gave understanding to the sky phenomenon?
30. Who is wise enough to count the clouds?
31. Who can tip over the water jars of heaven when the dust pours into a mass and the clods of earth stick together?
32. Can you hunt prey for a lion or satisfy the appetites of young lions when they crouch in their lairs or lie in ambush in their dens?
33. Who prepares food for the raven when its young cry to God for help and wander about because there is nothing to eat?
34. Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth?
35. Have you watched the deer give birth to their young?
36. Do you count the months that they must complete?
37. Do you know the time when they give birth?
They crouch down when they give birth to their young, And their labor pains end. Their young become strong and grow up in the open field; They go out and do not return to them.
38. Who set the wild donkey free, and who untied the ropes of the wild donkey?
I have made the desert plain its home and the salt land its dwelling. It scorns the tumult of the city; It does not hear the shouts of the driver. It roams the hills, seeking pasture, Looking for every green plant.
39. Is the wild bull willing to serve you?
40. Will it spend the night in your stable?
41. Will you hold a wild bull to the furrow with a rope, or will it follow you to plow the valley?
42. Will you trust in its great strength and let it do your heavy work?
43. Will you rely on it to bring back your harvest, and will it gather it to your threshing floor?
44. The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but can her pinions and plumage compare with the stork’s?
For she leaves her eggs on the ground, and she keeps them warm in the dust. She forgets that some foot may crush them or that a wild animal may trample them. She treats her sons harshly, as if they were not hers; She has no fear that her labor may be in vain. For God has deprived her of wisdom And given her no share in understanding. But when she rises up and flaps her wings, she laughs at the horse and at its rider.
45. Are you the one who gives the horse its strength?
46. Do you clothe its neck with a rustling mane?
47. Can you cause it to leap like a locust?
Its majestic snorting is terrifying. It paws the ground in the valley and exults mightily; It charges into the battle. It laughs at fear and is afraid of nothing. It does not turn back because of the sword. The quiver rattles against it, the spear and the javelin flash. Trembling with excitement, it surges forward, it cannot stand still at the sound of the horn. When the horn blows, it says, ‘Aha!’ It smells the battle from afar
And hears the shouting of commanders and the battle cry.
48. Is it by your understanding that the falcon soars, spreading its wings to the south?
49. Or is it at your order that an eagle flies upward and builds its nest high up, spending the night on a cliff, dwelling in its stronghold on a rocky crag?
From there it searches for food; Its eyes look far into the distance. Its young sip up blood; And wherever the slain are, there it is.
50. Should a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let the one who wants to reprove God answer.
You know what Job's response was to all these questions?
(Job 40:4) “Look! I am unworthy. What can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth."
16 Jan 2014, 11:29 pm
