---
title: Job 38
slug: kjv/job-38
createdAt: 2024-08-21T01:57:00.523Z
---

**1 **Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,

**2 **Who *is* this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

**3 **Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.

**4 **Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

**5 **Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?

**6 **Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;

**7 **When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

**8 **Or *who* shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, *as if* it had issued out of the womb?

**9 **When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,

**10 **And brake up for it my decreed *place*, and set bars and doors,

**11 **And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?

**12 **Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; *and* caused the dayspring to know his place;

**13 **That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?

**14 **It is turned as clay *to* the seal; and they stand as a garment.

**15 **And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.

**16 **Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?

**17 **Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?

**18 **Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all.

**19 **Where *is* the way *where* light dwelleth? and *as for* darkness, where *is* the place thereof,

**20 **That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths *to* the house thereof?

**21 **Knowest thou *it*, because thou wast then born? or *because* the number of thy days *is* great?

**22 **Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,

**23 **Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?

**24 **By what way is the light parted, *which* scattereth the east wind upon the earth?

**25 **Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;

**26 **To cause it to rain on the earth, *where* no man *is; on* the wilderness, wherein *there is* no man;

**27 **To satisfy the desolate and waste *ground*; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?

**28 **Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?

**29 **Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?

**30 **The waters are hid as *with* a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

**31 **Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?

**32 **Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?

**33 **Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?

**34 **Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?

**35 **Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we *are*?

**36 **Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?

**37 **Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven,

**38 **When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together?

**39 **Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions,

**40 **When they couch in *their* dens, *and* abide in the covert to lie in wait?

**41 **Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.