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