God interposes and shows from the things he has made, that man cannot comprehend his power and wisdom.

¹ But the Lord, responding to Job from a whirlwind, said:¹

1. 38:1The Lord: That is, an angel speaking in the name of the Lord.(Challoner)

² Who is this that wraps sentences in unskilled words?

³ Gird your waist like a man. I will question you, and you must answer me.

⁴ Where were you, when I set the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

⁵ Who set its measurements, if you know, or who stretched a line over it?

⁶ Upon what have its bases been grounded, and who set forth its cornerstone,

⁷ when the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful noise?

⁸ Who enclosed the sea with doors, when it broke forth as if issuing from the womb,

⁹ when I stationed a cloud as its garment and wrapped it in a mist as if swaddling an infant?¹

1. 38:9Literally, the first part reads: ‘When I set its cloudy garment....” As for the last part, some translations ignore the word infant, in favor of calling it ‘swaddling bands.’(Conte)

¹⁰ I encircled it with my limits, and I positioned its bars and doors.

¹¹ And I said: “This far you will approach, and you will proceed no further, and here you will break your swelling waves.”

¹² Did you, after your birth, command the birth of the sun and show the sunrise its place?¹

1. 38:12There is a play on words in Latin here. The word ‘ortum’ can refer to birth or to daybreak. The verse compares one’s birth to the sunrise (the daily birth of the sun).(Conte)

¹³ And did you hold the extremities of the earth, shaking them, and have you shaken the impious out of it?

¹⁴ The seal will be restored like clay, and it will remain in place like a garment.

¹⁵ From the impious, the light will be taken away, and the exalted arm will be broken.

¹⁶ Have you entered the depths of the sea, and have you taken a walk in the uttermost parts of the abyss?

¹⁷ Have the gates of death been opened to you, and have you seen the doors of darkness?¹

1. 38:17In the phrase ‘ostia tenebrosa,’ the word ‘tenebrosa’ is not genitive in case, so a literal translation would be ‘dark doors’ or ‘gloomy doors.’ But a better translation changes the case of the word ‘tenebrosa’ to genitive: ‘the doors of darkness’ or ‘the doors of the darkness.’(Conte)

¹⁸ Have you considered the breadth of the earth? If you know all things, reveal them to me.

¹⁹ Which is the way that holds the light, and which is the place of darkness?

²⁰ In this way, you might lead each thing to its final place, and understand the paths of its house.

²¹ So then, did you know when you were to be born? And did you know the number of your days?

²² Have you been admitted into the storehouses of the snows, and have you gazed upon the stockpile of the brimstone,

²³ which I have prepared for the time of the enemy, for the day of the battle and the war?

²⁴ In what way is the light scattered, and the heat distributed, over the earth?

²⁵ Who gave a course to the rainstorms, and a path to the resounding thunder,

²⁶ so that it would rain on the earth far from man, in the wilderness where no mortal lingers,

²⁷ so that it would fill impassable and desolate places, and would bring forth green plants?

²⁸ Who is the father of rain, or who conceived the drops of dew?

²⁹ From whose womb did the ice proceed, and who created the frost from the air?¹

1. 38:29The word ‘utero’ in Latin does not simply mean ‘womb.’ It is often used to refer to men as well as to women. It is often translated, for men, as ‘belly’ or ‘abdomen.’ However, it has another possible meaning that is not often recognized. It can refer to the generative capability in either a man or a woman, in other words, to the ability to procreate (to conceive a child). In this verse, the word ‘utero’ is used figuratively to refer to God’s ability to create: ‘From whose ability-to-create did the ice proceed?’ Similarly, the word ‘genuit,’ often translated as ‘begot,’ in this context refers instead to God’s ability to create.(Conte)

³⁰ The waters are hardened to become like stone, and the surface of the abyss freezes over.

³¹ Will you have the strength to join together the sparkling stars of the Pleiades, or are you able to disperse the circling of Arcturus?¹

1. 38:31Pleiades: Hebrew, Cimah. A cluster of seven stars in the constellation Taurus or the Bull. Arcturus, a bright star in the constellation Bootes. The Hebrew name Cesil, is variously interpreted; by some, Orion; by others, the Great Bear is understood.(Challoner)

³² Can you bring forth the morning star, in its time, and make the evening star rise over the sons of the earth?

³³ Do you know the order of heaven, and can you explain its rules here on the earth?

³⁴ Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that an onslaught of waters will cover you?

³⁵ Can you send forth lightning bolts, and will they go, and on returning, say to you: “Here we are?”

³⁶ Who placed discernment in the guts of man, or who gave the rooster intelligence?¹

1. 38:36Understanding: That instinct by which he distinguishes the times of crowing in the night.(Challoner)

³⁷ Who can describe the rules of the heavens, or who can put to rest the harmony of heaven?

³⁸ When was the dust cast to become the earth, and when were its clods fastened together?

³⁹ Will you seize prey for the lioness, and will you sustain the lives of her young,

⁴⁰ as they rest in their dens or lie in wait in pits?

⁴¹ Who provides the raven with its meal, when her chicks cry out to God, as they wander around because they have no food?