Job 38 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

The Lord Answers Job

(Gen 1:1–10 )

Job 38:1

Job 38:1Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

Job 38:2

Job 38:2“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

Job 38:3

Job 38:3Dress for action[fn] like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.

Job 38:4

Job 38:4“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.

Job 38:5

Job 38:5Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?

Job 38:6

Job 38:6On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,

Job 38:7

Job 38:7when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Job 38:8

Job 38:8“Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb,

Job 38:9

Job 38:9when I made clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling band,

Job 38:10

Job 38:10and prescribed limits for it
and set bars and doors,

Job 38:11

Job 38:11and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

Job 38:12

Job 38:12“Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
and caused the dawn to know its place,

Job 38:13

Job 38:13that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
and the wicked be shaken out of it?

Job 38:14

Job 38:14It is changed like clay under the seal,
and its features stand out like a garment.

Job 38:15

Job 38:15From the wicked their light is withheld,
and their uplifted arm is broken.

Job 38:16

Job 38:16“Have you entered into the springs of the sea,
or walked in the recesses of the deep?

Job 38:17

Job 38:17Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

Job 38:18

Job 38:18Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
Declare, if you know all this.

Job 38:19

Job 38:19“Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
and where is the place of darkness,

Job 38:20

Job 38:20that you may take it to its territory
and that you may discern the paths to its home?

Job 38:21

Job 38:21You know, for you were born then,
and the number of your days is great!

Job 38:22

Job 38:22“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

Job 38:23

Job 38:23which I have reserved for the time of trouble,
for the day of battle and war?

Job 38:24

Job 38:24What is the way to the place where the light is distributed,
or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?

Job 38:25

Job 38:25“Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain
and a way for the thunderbolt,

Job 38:26

Job 38:26to bring rain on a land where no man is,
on the desert in which there is no man,

Job 38:27

Job 38:27to satisfy the waste and desolate land,
and to make the ground sprout with grass?

Job 38:28

Job 38:28“Has the rain a father,
or who has begotten the drops of dew?

Job 38:29

Job 38:29From whose womb did the ice come forth,
and who has given birth to the frost of heaven?

Job 38:30

Job 38:30The waters become hard like stone,
and the face of the deep is frozen.

Job 38:31

Job 38:31“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades
or loose the cords of Orion?

Job 38:32

Job 38:32Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth[fn] in their season,
or can you guide the Bear with its children?

Job 38:33

Job 38:33Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
Can you establish their rule on the earth?

Job 38:34

Job 38:34“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
that a flood of waters may cover you?

Job 38:35

Job 38:35Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go
and say to you, ‘Here we are’?

Job 38:36

Job 38:36Who has put wisdom in the inward parts[fn]
or given understanding to the mind?[fn]

Job 38:37

Job 38:37Who can number the clouds by wisdom?
Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,

Job 38:38

Job 38:38when the dust runs into a mass
and the clods stick fast together?

Job 38:39

Job 38:39“Can you hunt the prey for the lion,
or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

Job 38:40

Job 38:40when they crouch in their dens
or lie in wait in their thicket?

Job 38:41

Job 38:41Who provides for the raven its prey,
when its young ones cry to God for help,
and wander about for lack of food?

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(38:3)

Hebrew Gird up your loins

(38:32)

Probably the name of a constellation

(38:36)

Or in the ibis

(38:36)

Or rooster

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.