Job 38:4-27

4Were you with me when I made the world? If you think you are so clever, tell me all about it!

5It was me who decided the size of the world. You surely must know that! I measured it as I made it.

6Tell me how I fixed the foundations of the earth. Who made it stay in its right place? I did!

7At the dawn of that day, the stars sang together. They sang for joy with all the angels.

8When the sea poured out of the ground, I decided where its borders should be. I kept the water in its right place.

9I caused the clouds to come over the sea. I covered it with complete darkness.

10I put a border around the sea. I locked it in its place.

11I said to the sea, “This is as far as you can come. You may come no further. Your powerful waves must stop there!”

12But you, Job, did you ever command the morning to begin? No! You have never in your whole life told the sun when it should rise.

13You have not told the light of day to cover the earth. You have not told it to chase away the wicked things that happen in the night.

14When the light of day comes, people see the land clearly. Its shape and colours show like bright clothes.

15The light of day is too bright for wicked people. It destroys their power to do cruel things.

16You have not gone to the springs that fill the seas with water. You have not walked on the bottom of the deep seas.

17Nobody has showed you the gates of death. People go through them to that very dark place.

18You do not understand the great size of the earth. If you know all about that, tell me!

19You do not know where light comes from. You do not know where darkness has its home.

20Can you take them to the places where they belong? Do you know the roads that go there?

21Surely you must know all this, because you have lived for so long! It seems that you were already born when I created these things!

22Have you visited the place where I keep all the snow? Or the place where I keep the hail?

23I keep the snow and the hail ready to use. I use them in times of trouble and wars.

24You do not know where lightning comes from. Or where the east wind starts when it blows across the earth.

25I make a path for the storms to travel along. I tell the thunder and the strong rain which way to go.

26I cause rain to fall in places where no person lives. It makes even a desert become a wet place.

27The rain falls on dry ground where nothing grows. It causes grass to grow there again.