JOIN THE JOURNEY JR.

Job 38

The Lord Challenges Job

1Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:

2“Who is this that questions my wisdom

with such ignorant words?

3Brace 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.

5Who determined its dimensions

and stretched out the surveying line?

6What supports its foundations,

and who laid its cornerstone

7as 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,

9and as I clothed it with clouds

and wrapped it in thick darkness?

10For I locked it behind barred gates,

limiting its shores.

11I 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?

13Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth,

to bring an end to the night’s wickedness?

14As the light approaches,

the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal;

it is robed in brilliant colors.*

15The 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?

17Do you know where the gates of death are located?

Have you seen the gates of utter gloom?

18Do you realize the extent of the earth?

Tell me about it if you know!

Job 39

The Lord’s Challenge Continues

1“Do you know when the wild goats give birth?

Have you watched as deer are born in the wild?

2Do you know how many months they carry their young?

Are you aware of the time of their delivery?

3They crouch down to give birth to their young

and deliver their offspring.

4Their young grow up in the open fields,

then leave home and never return.

5“Who gives the wild donkey its freedom?

Who untied its ropes?

6I have placed it in the wilderness;

its home is the wasteland.

7It hates the noise of the city

and has no driver to shout at it.

8The mountains are its pastureland,

where it searches for every blade of grass.

9“Will the wild ox consent to being tamed?

Will it spend the night in your stall?

10Can you hitch a wild ox to a plow?

Will it plow a field for you?

11Given its strength, can you trust it?

Can you leave and trust the ox to do your work?

12Can you rely on it to bring home your grain

and deliver it to your threshing floor?

26“Is it your wisdom that makes the hawk soar

and spread its wings toward the south?

27Is it at your command that the eagle rises

to the heights to make its nest?

28It lives on the cliffs,

making its home on a distant, rocky crag.

29From there it hunts its prey,

keeping watch with piercing eyes.