[1] Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:
[2] “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words?
[3] Brace 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.
[5] Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line?
[6] What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone
[7] as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?
[8] “Who kept the sea inside its boundaries as it burst from the womb,
[9] and as I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness?
[10] For I locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores.
[11] I 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?
[13] Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth, to bring an end to the night’s wickedness?
[14] As the light approaches, the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal; it is robed in brilliant colors.
[15] The 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?
[17] Do you know where the gates of death are located? Have you seen the gates of utter gloom?
[18] Do 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?
[20] Can you take each to its home? Do you know how to get there?
[21] But 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.)
[24] Where 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?
[26] Who makes the rain fall on barren land, in a desert where no one lives?
[27] Who 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?
[29] Who is the mother of the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens?
[30] For 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?
[32] Can you direct the constellations through the seasons or guide the Bear with her cubs across the heavens?
[33] Do 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?
[35] Can you make lightning appear and cause it to strike as you direct?
[36] Who gives intuition to the heart and instinct to the mind?
[37] Who is wise enough to count all the clouds? Who can tilt the water jars of heaven
[38] when 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
[40] as they lie in their dens or crouch in the thicket?
[41] Who provides food for the ravens when their young cry out to God and wander about in hunger?