Chapter 38

  Then the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind, and said :  

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  Who is this that wrappeth up sentences in unskillful 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 up 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 has 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?  

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