Monsoon: Week 2 - Thursday

The Lord Challenges Job

¹Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:

²“Who is this that questions my wisdom

with such ignorant words?

³Brace yourself like a man,

because I have some questions for you,

and you must answer them.

⁴“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?

Tell me, if you know so much.

⁵Who determined its dimensions

and stretched out the surveying line?

⁶What supports its foundations,

and who laid its cornerstone

⁷as the morning stars sang together

and all the angels^[1] shouted for joy?

⁸“Who kept the sea inside its boundaries

as it burst from the womb,

⁹and as I clothed it with clouds

and wrapped it in thick darkness?

¹⁰For I locked it behind barred gates,

limiting its shores.

¹¹I said, ‘This far and no farther will you come.

Here your proud waves must stop!’

¹²“Have you ever commanded the morning to appear

and caused the dawn to rise in the east?

¹³Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth,

to bring an end to the night’s wickedness?

¹⁴As the light approaches,

the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal;

it is robed in brilliant colors.^[2]

¹⁵The light disturbs the wicked

and stops the arm that is raised in violence.

¹⁶“Have you explored the springs from which the seas come?

Have you explored their depths?

¹⁷Do you know where the gates of death are located?

Have you seen the gates of utter gloom?

¹⁸Do you realize the extent of the earth?

Tell me about it if you know!

¹⁹“Where does light come from,

and where does darkness go?

²⁰Can you take each to its home?

Do you know how to get there?

²¹But of course you know all this!

For you were born before it was all created,

and you are so very experienced!

²²“Have you visited the storehouses of the snow

or seen the storehouses of hail?

²³(I have reserved them as weapons for the time of trouble,

for the day of battle and war.)

²⁴Where is the path to the source of light?

Where is the home of the east wind?

²⁵“Who created a channel for the torrents of rain?

Who laid out the path for the lightning?

²⁶Who makes the rain fall on barren land,

in a desert where no one lives?

²⁷Who sends rain to satisfy the parched ground

and make the tender grass spring up?

²⁸“Does the rain have a father?

Who gives birth to the dew?

²⁹Who is the mother of the ice?

Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens?

³⁰For the water turns to ice as hard as rock,

and the surface of the water freezes.

³¹“Can you direct the movement of the stars—

binding the cluster of the Pleiades

or loosening the cords of Orion?

³²Can you direct the constellations through the seasons

or guide the Bear with her cubs across the heavens?

³³Do you know the laws of the universe?

Can you use them to regulate the earth?

³⁴“Can you shout to the clouds

and make it rain?

³⁵Can you make lightning appear

and cause it to strike as you direct?

³⁶Who gives intuition to the heart

and instinct to the mind?

³⁷Who is wise enough to count all the clouds?

Who can tilt the water jars of heaven

³⁸when the parched ground is dry

and the soil has hardened into clods?

³⁹“Can you stalk prey for a lioness

and satisfy the young lions’ appetites

⁴⁰as they lie in their dens

or crouch in the thicket?

⁴¹Who provides food for the ravens

when their young cry out to God

and wander about in hunger?