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²⁰Shall it be told Him that I would speak?

Or should a man wish that he were swallowed up?

 

²¹And now men see not the light which is bright in the skies;

But the wind passeth, and cleanseth them.

²²Out of the north cometh golden splendour,

About God is terrible majesty.

²³The Almighty, whom we cannot find out, is excellent in power,

Yet to judgment and plenteous justice He doeth no violence.

²⁴Men do therefore fear Him;

He regardeth not any that are wise of heart.

38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:

²Who is this that darkeneth counsel

By words without knowledge?

³Gird up now thy loins like a man;

For I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto Me.

 

⁴Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?

Declare, if thou hast the understanding.

⁵Who determined the measures thereof, if thou knowest?

Or who stretched the line upon it?

⁶Whereupon were the foundations thereof fastened?

Or who laid the corner-stone thereof,

⁷When the morning stars sang together,

And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

 

⁸Or who shut up the sea with doors,

When it broke forth, and issued out of the womb;

⁹When I made the cloud the garment thereof,

And thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,

¹⁰And prescribed for it My decree,

And set bars and doors,

¹¹And said: 'Thus far shalt thou come, but no further;

And here shall thy proud waves be stayed'?

 

¹²Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days began,

And caused the dayspring to know its place;

¹³That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,

And the wicked be shaken out of it?

¹⁴It is changed as clay under the seal;

And they stand as a garment.

¹⁵But from the wicked their light is withholden,

And the high arm is broken.

 

¹⁶Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?

Or hast thou walked in the recesses of the deep?

¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed unto thee?

Or hast thou seen the gates of the shadow of death?

¹⁸Hast thou surveyed unto the breadths of the earth?

Declare, if thou knowest it all.

 

¹⁹Where is the way to the dwelling of light,

And as for darkness, where is the place thereof;

²⁰That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof,

And that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?

²¹Thou knowest it, for thou wast then born,

And the number of thy days is great!

 

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