The Book of Job (part of the Kethubim / "Writings"
section of the Tanak - Hebrew Bible) mostly
poetry - dialogue speeches - but also narrative
for beginning and concluding chapters.
This 21st century translation is from the
Common English Bible (CEB), its
study Bible with notes published in 2013.
Then the Lord answered Job
from the whirlwind:
Who is this darkening counsel
with words lacking knowledge?
Prepare yourself like a man:
I will interrogate you, and you
will respond to me.
Where were you when I laid
the earth's foundations? Tell
me if you know.
Who set its measurements?
Surely you know. Who stretched
a measuring tape on it? On
what were its footings sunk;
who laid its cornerstone, while
the morning stars sang in unison
and all the Divine beings shouted?
Who enclosed the Sea [Hebrew "YAM"]
behind doors when it burst forth
from the womb, when I made the
clouds its garment, the dense clouds
its wrap, when I imposted my
limit for it, put on a bar and doors
and said, 'You may come this far,
no farther; here your proud waves
stop'?
In your lifetime have you commanded
the morning, informed the dawn of
its place so it would take hold of
earth by its edges and shake the
wicked out of it?
Do you turn it over like clay
for a seal, so it stands out like
a colorful garment? Light is
withheld from the wicked, the
uplifted arm broken.
Have you gone to the sea's
sources, walked in the chamber
of the deep? Have death's gates
been revealed to you; can you see
the gates of deep darkness?
Have you surveyed earth's expanse?
Tell me if you know everything about
it. Where's the road to the place
where light dwells; darkness,
where's it located? Can you take
it to its territory; do you know
the way to its house? You know,
for you were born then; you have
lived such a long time / the number
of your days is many!
Have you gone to snow's store-
houses, seen the storehouses of
hail that I have reserved for a
time of distress, for a day of
battle and war?
What is the way to the place
where light is divided up; the east
wind scattered over earth?
Who cut a channel for the
downpours and a way for blasts
of thunder to bring water to
uninhabited land, a desert with
no human to saturate dry waste-
land and make grass sprout?
Has the rain a father who
brought forth drops of dew?
From whose belly does ice
come: who gave birth to
heaven's frost? Water hardens
like stone; the surface of the deep
thickens. Can you bind Pleiades'
chain or loosen the reins of Orion?
Can you guide the stars at their
proper times, lead the Bear with
her cubs? Do you know heaven's
laws, or can you impose its rule
on earth? Can you issue an order
to the clouds so their abundant
waters cover you? Can you send
lightning so that it goes and
then says to you, 'I'm here'?
Who put wisdom in remote places,
and who gave understanding to
a rooster? Who is wise enough
to count the clouds and who can
tilt heaven's water containers
so that dust becomes mud
and clouds of dirt adhere?
Can you hunt prey for the lion
or fill the cravings of lion cubs?
They lie in their den, lie in ambush
in their lair. Who provides food
for the raven, when its young
cry to God, move about without food?
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