Job 38
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Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: Begin Abide·
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“Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge? Begin Abide·
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Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me. Begin Abide·
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Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Begin Abide·
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Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched a measuring line across it? Begin Abide·
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On what were its foundations set, or who laid its cornerstone, Begin Abide·
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while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Begin Abide·
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Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, Begin Abide·
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when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its blanket, Begin Abide·
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when I fixed its boundaries and set in place its bars and doors, Begin Abide·
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and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther; here your proud waves must stop’? Begin Abide·
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In your days, have you commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place, Begin Abide·
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that it might spread to the ends of the earth and shake the wicked out of it? Begin Abide·
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The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its hills stand out like the folds of a garment. Begin Abide·
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Light is withheld from the wicked, and their upraised arm is broken. Begin Abide·
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Have you journeyed to the vents of the sea or walked in the trenches of the deep? Begin Abide·
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Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? Begin Abide·
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Have you surveyed the extent of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this. Begin Abide·
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Where is the way to the home of light? Do you know where darkness resides, Begin Abide·
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so you can lead it back to its border? Do you know the paths to its home? Begin Abide·
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Surely you know, for you were already born! And the number of your days is great! Begin Abide·
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Have you entered the storehouses of snow or observed the storehouses of hail, Begin Abide·
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which I hold in reserve for times of trouble, for the day of war and battle? Begin Abide·
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In which direction is the lightning dispersed, or the east wind scattered over the earth? Begin Abide·
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Who cuts a channel for the flood or clears a path for the thunderbolt, Begin Abide·
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to bring rain on a barren land, on a desert where no man lives, Begin Abide·
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to satisfy the parched wasteland and make it sprout with tender grass? Begin Abide·
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Does the rain have a father? Who has begotten the drops of dew? Begin Abide·
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From whose womb does the ice emerge? Who gives birth to the frost from heaven, Begin Abide·
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when the waters become hard as stone and the surface of the deep is frozen? Begin Abide·
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Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion? Begin Abide·
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Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear and her cubs? Begin Abide·
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Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth? Begin Abide·
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Can you command the clouds so that a flood of water covers you? Begin Abide·
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Can you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’? Begin Abide·
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Who has put wisdom in the heart or given understanding to the mind? Begin Abide·
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Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens Begin Abide·
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when the dust hardens into a mass and the clods of earth stick together? Begin Abide·
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Can you hunt the prey for a lioness or satisfy the hunger of young lions Begin Abide·
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when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait in the thicket? Begin Abide·
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Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food? Begin Abide·