² “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?^(A)
3 Gird up your loins like a man;
    I will question you, and you shall declare to me.^(B)

⁴ “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
    Tell me, if you have understanding.^(C)
5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
    Or who stretched the line upon it?
⁶ On what were its bases sunk,
    or who laid its cornerstone^(D)
7 when the morning stars sang together
    and all the heavenly beings^[a] shouted for joy?^(E)

⁸ “Or who shut in the sea with doors
    when it burst out from the womb,^(F)
9 when I made the clouds its garment
    and thick darkness its swaddling band,^(G)
10 and prescribed bounds for it,
    and set bars and doors,^(H)
11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you come and no farther,
    and here shall your proud waves be stopped’?^(I)

¹² “Have you commanded the morning since your days began
    and caused the dawn to know its place,^(J)
13 so that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
    and the wicked be shaken out of it?^(K)
14 It is changed like clay under the seal,
    and it is dyed^[b] like a garment.
¹⁵ Light is withheld from the wicked,
    and their uplifted arm is broken.^(L)

¹⁶ “Have you entered into the springs of the sea
    or walked in the recesses of the deep?^(M)
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
    or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?^(N)
18 Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
    Declare, if you know all this.^(O)

¹⁹ “Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
    and where is the place of darkness,
²⁰ that you may take it to its territory
    and that you may discern the paths to its home?^(P)
21 Surely you know, for you were born then,
    and the number of your days is great!^(Q)

²² “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
    or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,^(R)
23 which I have reserved for the time of trouble,
    for the day of battle and war?^(S)
24 What is the way to the place where the light is distributed
    or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?^(T)

²⁵ “Who has cut a channel for the torrents of rain
    and a way for the thunderbolt,^(U)
26 to bring rain on a land where no one lives,
    on the desert, which is empty of human life,^(V)
27 to satisfy the waste and desolate land,
    and to make the ground put forth grass?^(W)

²⁸ “Has the rain a father,
    or who has fathered the drops of dew?^(X)
29 From whose womb did the ice come forth,
    and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven?^(Y)
30 The waters become hard like stone,
    and the face of the deep is frozen.

³¹ “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades
    or loose the cords of Orion?^(Z)
32 Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season,
    or can you guide the Bear with its children?
³³ Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
    Can you establish their rule on the earth?^(AA)

³⁴ “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
    so that a flood of waters may cover you?^(AB)
35 Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go
    and say to you, ‘Here we are’?^(AC)
36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts^[c]
    or given understanding to the mind?^[d](AD)
37 Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?
    Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens
³⁸ when the dust runs into a mass
    and the clods cling together?

³⁹ “Can you hunt the prey for the lion
    or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,^(AE)
40 when they crouch in their dens
    or lie in wait in their covert?^(AF)
41 Who provides for the raven its prey,
    when its young ones cry to God
    and wander about for lack of food?^(AG)

39 “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?
    Do you observe the calving of the deer?^(AH)
2 Can you number the months that they fulfill,
    and do you know the time when they give birth,
³ when they crouch to give birth to their offspring
    and are delivered of their young?^(AI)
4 Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open;
    they go forth and do not return to them.

⁵ “Who has let the wild ass go free?
    Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass,^(AJ)
6 to which I have given the steppe for its home,
    the salt land for its dwelling place?^(AK)
7 It scorns the tumult of the city;
    it does not hear the shouts of the driver.
⁸ It ranges the mountains as its pasture,
    and it searches after every green thing.

⁹ “Is the wild ox willing to serve you?
    Will it spend the night at your crib?^(AL)
10 Can you tie it in the furrow with ropes,
    or will it harrow the valleys after you?
¹¹ Will you depend on it because its strength is great,
    and will you hand over your labor to it?
¹² Do you have faith in it that it will return
    and bring your grain to your threshing floor?^[e]

¹³ “The ostrich’s wings flap wildly,
    though its pinions lack plumage.^[f]
14 For it leaves its eggs to the earth
    and lets them be warmed on the ground,
¹⁵ forgetting that a foot may crush them
    and that a wild animal may trample them.
¹⁶ It deals cruelly with its young, as if they were not its own;
    though its labor should be in vain, yet it has no fear;^(AM)
17 because God has made it forget wisdom
    and given it no share in understanding.^(AN)
18 When it spreads its plumes aloft,^[g]
    it laughs at the horse and its rider.

¹⁹ “Do you give the horse its might?
    Do you clothe its neck with mane?^(AO)
20 Do you make it leap like the locust?
    Its majestic snorting is terrible.^(AP)
21 It paws^[h] violently, exults mightily;
    it goes out to meet the weapons.^(AQ)
22 It laughs at fear and is not dismayed;
    it does not turn back from the sword.
²³ Upon it rattle the quiver,
    the flashing spear, and the javelin.
²⁴ With fierceness and rage it swallows the ground;
    it cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.^(AR)
25 When the trumpet sounds, it says ‘Aha!’
    From a distance it smells the battle,
    the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.^(AS)

²⁶ “Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars
    and spreads its wings toward the south?
²⁷ Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up
    and makes its nest on high?^(AT)
28 It lives on the rock and makes its home
    in the fastness of the rocky crag.
²⁹ From there it spies the prey;
    its eyes see it from far away.^(AU)
30 Its young ones suck up blood,
    and where the slain are, there it is.”^(AV)