1 Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:2 "Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?3 Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.4 "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand.5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone —7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels "shouted for joy?8 "Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,9 when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness,10 when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place,11 when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt'?12 "Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place,13 that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment.15 The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken.16 "Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?17 Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.19 "What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside?20 Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings?21 Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!22 "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail,23 which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle?24 What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?25 Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm,26 to water a land where no one lives, an uninhabited desert,27 to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?28 Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew?29 From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens30 when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?31 "Can you bind the chains "of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion's belt?32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons "or lead out the Bear "with its cubs?33 Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God's "dominion over the earth?34 "Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water?35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, 'Here we are'?36 Who gives the ibis wisdom "or gives the rooster understanding? [^7]37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens38 when the dust becomes hard and the clods of earth stick together?39 "Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions40 when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket?41 Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?

1 Respondens autem Dominus Job de turbine, dixit : 2 [Quis est iste involvens sententiassermonibus imperitis ?3 Accinge sicut vir lumbos tuos :interrogabo te, et responde mihi.4 Ubi eras quando ponebam fundamenta terr ?indica mihi, si habes intelligentiam.5 Quis posuit mensuras ejus, si nosti ?vel quis tetendit super eam lineam ?6 Super quo bases illius solidat sunt ?aut quis demisit lapidem angularem ejus,7 cum me laudarent simul astra matutina,et jubilarent omnes filii Dei ?8 Quis conclusit ostiis mare,quando erumpebat quasi de vulva procedens ;9 cum ponerem nubem vestimentum ejus,et caligine illud quasi pannis infanti obvolverem ?10 Circumdedi illud terminis meis,et posui vectem et ostia,11 et dixi : Usque huc venies, et non procedes amplius,et hic confringes tumentes fluctus tuos.12 Numquid post ortum tuum prcepisti diluculo,et ostendisti auror locum suum ?13 Et tenuisti concutiens extrema terr,et excussisti impios ex ea ?14 Restituetur ut lutum signaculum,et stabit sicut vestimentum :15 auferetur ab impiis lux sua,et brachium excelsum confringetur.16 Numquid ingressus es profunda maris,et in novissimis abyssi deambulasti ?17 Numquid apert sunt tibi port mortis,et ostia tenebrosa vidisti ?18 Numquid considerasti latitudinem terr ?indica mihi, si nosti, omnia :19 in qua via lux habitet,et tenebrarum quis locus sit :20 ut ducas unumquodque ad terminos suos,et intelligas semitas domus ejus.21 Sciebas tunc quod nasciturus esses,et numerum dierum tuorum noveras ?22 Numquid ingressus es thesauros nivis,aut thesauros grandinis aspexisti,23 qu prparavi in tempus hostis,in diem pugn et belli ?24 Per quam viam spargitur lux,dividitur stus super terram ?25 Quis dedit vehementissimo imbri cursum,et viam sonantis tonitrui,26 ut plueret super terram absque homine in deserto,ubi nullus mortalium commoratur ;27 ut impleret inviam et desolatam,et produceret herbas virentes ?28 Quis est pluvi pater ?vel quis genuit stillas roris ?29 De cujus utero egressa est glacies ?et gelu de clo quis genuit ?30 In similitudinem lapidis aqu durantur,et superficies abyssi constringitur.31 Numquid conjungere valebis micantes stellas Pleiadas,aut gyrum Arcturi poteris dissipare ?32 Numquid producis luciferum in tempore suo,et vesperum super filios terr consurgere facis ?33 Numquid nosti ordinem cli,et pones rationem ejus in terra ?34 Numquid elevabis in nebula vocem tuam,et impetus aquarum operiet te ?35 Numquid mittes fulgura, et ibunt,et revertentia dicent tibi : Adsumus ?36 Quis posuit in visceribus hominis sapientiam ?vel quis dedit gallo intelligentiam ?37 Quis enarrabit clorum rationem ?et concentum cli quis dormire faciet ?38 Quando fundebatur pulvis in terra,et gleb compingebantur ?39 Numquid capies len prdam,et animam catulorum ejus implebis,40 quando cubant in antris,et in specubus insidiantur ?41 Quis prparat corvo escam suam,quando pulli ejus clamant ad Deum,vagantes, eo quod non habeant cibos ?]