1 And the Lord made answer to Job out of the storm-wind, and said,
2 Who is this who makes the purpose of God dark by words without knowledge?
3 Get your strength together like a man of war; I will put questions to you, and you will give me the answers.
4 Where were you when I put the earth on its base? Say, if you have knowledge.
5 By whom were its measures fixed? Say, if you have wisdom; or by whom was the line stretched out over it?
6 On what were its pillars based, or who put down its angle-stone,
7 When the morning stars made songs together, and all the sons of the gods gave cries of joy?
8 Or where were you when the sea came to birth, pushing out from its secret place;
9 When I made the cloud its robe, and put thick clouds as bands round it,
10 Ordering a fixed limit for it, with locks and doors;
11 And said, So far you may come, and no farther; and here the pride of your waves will be stopped?
12 Have you, from your earliest days, given orders to the morning, or made the dawn conscious of its place;
13 So that it might take a grip of the skirts of the earth, shaking all the evil-doers out of it?
14 It is changed like wet earth under a stamp, and is coloured like a robe;
15 And from the evil-doers their light is kept back, and the arm of pride is broken.
16 Have you come into the springs of the sea, walking in the secret places of the deep?
17 Have the doors of death been open to you, or have the door-keepers of the dark ever seen you?
18 Have you taken note of the wide limits of the earth? Say, if you have knowledge of it all.
19 Which is the way to the resting-place of the light, and where is the store-house of the dark;
20 So that you might take it to its limit, guiding it to its house?
21 No doubt you have knowledge of it, for then you had come to birth, and the number of your days is great.
22 Have you come into the secret place of snow, or have you seen the store-houses of the ice-drops,
23 Which I have kept for the time of trouble, for the day of war and fighting?
24 Which is the way to the place where the wind is measured out, and the east wind sent out over the earth?
25 By whom has the way been cut for the flowing of the rain, and the flaming of the thunder;
26 Causing rain to come on a land where no man is living, on the waste land which has no people;
27 To give water to the land where there is waste and destruction, and to make the dry land green with young grass?
28 Has the rain a father? or who gave birth to the drops of night mist?
29 Out of whose body came the ice? and who gave birth to the cold mist of heaven?
30 The waters are joined together, hard as a stone, and the face of the deep is covered.
31 Are the bands of the Pleiades fixed by you, or are the cords of Orion made loose?
32 Do you make Mazzaroth come out in its right time, or are the Bear and its children guided by you?
33 Have you knowledge of the laws of the heavens? did you give them rule over the earth?
34 Is your voice sent up to the cloud, so that you may be covered by the weight of waters?
35 Do you send out the thunder-flames, so that they may go, and say to you, Here we are?
36 Who has put wisdom in the high clouds, or given knowledge to the lights of the north?
37 By whose wisdom are the clouds numbered, or the water-skins of the heavens turned to the earth,
38 When the earth becomes hard as metal, and is joined together in masses?
1 Então foi a vez do Senhor responder a Job num redemoinho:
2 Porque é que usas a tua ignorância para negar a minha providência?
3 Agora, portanto, prepara-te porque vou fazer-te algumas perguntas e terás de me responder.
4 Onde estavas tu quando eu fundava a terra? Responde-me, se tens sabedoria para isso.
5 Sabes quem lhe determinou as dimensões e quem lhe fez o plano?
6 Sobre o quê, que estão apoiadas as suas bases,e quem foi que assentou a sua pedra fundamental,quando as estrelas produziam harmonias juntamentee todos os anjos gritavam de alegria?
8 Quem foi que pôs limites aos mares,quando eles se agitam e transbordam das suas profundidades?
16 Já alguma vez conseguiste explorar as fontes donde vêm os mares,ou andado sobre os seus profundos abismos?
17 Foram-te já alguma vez reveladas as portas da morte?
18 Dar-te-ás conta da verdadeira extensão da Terra? Responde-me a isto, se fores capaz!
21 Mas se calhar sabes isto tudo! Porque nasceste antes que tudo tivesse sido criado, não? E como és tão experiente ...
22 Já pudeste conhecer os segredos da neve,ou ver onde o granizo é feito e armazenado?
23 Porque o reservei para quando precisar dele, para o dia da peleja.
24 Sabes como se difunde a luz? E por onde é que o vento oriental invade a Terra?
25 Quem foi que cavou as gargantas, entre as montanhas,por onde correm os ribeiros formados pelas chuvas? Quem abriu o caminho ao relâmpago,
26 que faz com que a chuva caia sobre as terras desertas,
27 para que os terrenos secos e áridos fiquem saciados de água,e se renove a erva tenra?
28 Terá a chuva um pai? Donde vem o orvalho?
29 Quem fez aparecer o gelo e a geada?
30 Porque a água torna-se em gelo e fica como uma rocha dura.
31 Serás tu capaz de fazer reter as estrelas? Ou de impedir o avanço do Oríon ou das Plêiades?
32 Poderias controlar a sequência das constelações,ou determinar, à tua responsabilidade,a deslocação da constelação da Ursa Maior,e da Ursa Menor, através dos céus?
33 Sabes tu as leis do universo,e de que maneira os céus influenciam a Terra?
34 Poderias tu gritar para as nuvense fazeres-te inundar por torrenciais aguaceiros?
35 Serias capaz de dar ordens aos raios,e eles dizerem-te: 'Pronto, aqui estamos!'
36 Quem estabeleceu a ciência que faz a chuva cair das nuvense o nevoeiro subir da terra?
41 Quem é que fornece alimento aos corvos,quando os filhos gritam a Deuse desfalecem nos ninhos por não terem que comer?