Job 38
1 Then Yahweh spoke to Job from inside a great windstorm. He said to him,
| ויען-יהוה את-איוב מנהסערה (מן הסערה) ויאמר |
2 “(Who are you to question what I plan to do?/You have no right/authority to question what I plan to do.) [RHQ] You are speaking ignorantly!
| מי זה מחשיך עצה במלין-- בלי-דעת |
3 I want to ask you [some] questions, so, just like men prepare themselves for a difficult task [MET], prepare to answer my questions.
| אזר-נא כגבר חלציך ואשאלך והודיעני |
4 (“Where were you/Were you there with me) [long ago] when I (laid the foundations of/created) the earth? Since you know so much, tell me [where you were at that time].
| איפה היית ביסדי-ארץ הגד אם-ידעת בינה |
5 Do you know how I decided how large the earth would be? Do you know who stretched a measuring tape around the earth? Surely [since you think that you know so much, ] you should know that!
| מי-שם ממדיה כי תדע או מי-נטה עליה קו |
6 What supports the pillars on which the earth rests? When the stars [that shine early] in the morning sang together, and someone put in place the stone that causes the earth to stay in its place, and all the angels shouted joyfully [when they saw that happening], who laid that cornerstone? [Did you?]
| על-מה אדניה הטבעו או מי-ירה אבן פנתה |
| ברן-יחד כוכבי בקר ויריעו כל-בני אלהים |
8 “When the seas poured forth from inside the earth, who prevented the water from flooding over the land?
| ויסך בדלתים ים בגיחו מרחם יצא |
9 It was I, [not you, ] who caused clouds to come over the seas and caused it to become very dark [under those clouds].
| בשומי ענן לבשו וערפל חתלתו |
10 I set limits for the seas, and I put barriers [so that the water would not come over the land].
| ואשבר עליו חקי ואשים בריח ודלתים |
11 [I pointed to the shore] and said to the water, ‘I permit you to come up to here, but I do not permit you to come any farther. Your powerful waves must stop there!’
| ואמר--עד-פה תבוא ולא תסיף ופא-ישית בגאון גליך |
12 “Job, have you [ever] commanded the morning [to begin]? Have you [ever] told the dawn to start a new day?
| המימיך צוית בקר ידעתה שחר (ידעת השחר) מקמו |
13 Have you [ever] told the dawn to spread out over the whole earth, with the result that wicked people run away from the light?
| לאחז בכנפות הארץ וינערו רשעים ממנה |
14 When it becomes light after the dawn, the hills and the valleys become clear like the folds in a cloth.
| תתהפך כחמר חותם ויתיצבו כמו לבוש |
15 When it becomes daylight, the wicked do not have the darkness [that they like]; [in the daylight] they no longer are able to raise up their arms, ready to hurt people.
| וימנע מרשעים אורם וזרוע רמה תשבר |
16 “[Job, ] have you traveled to the springs [in the bottom of the ocean] from which the water in the seas comes? Have you investigated/explored the very bottom of the oceans?
| הבאת עד-נבכי-ים ובחקר תהום התהלכת |
17 Has someone shown you the gates to the place where dead people are, the gates to the place where it is very dark?
| הנגלו לך שערי-מות ושערי צלמות תראה |
18 Do you know how big the earth is? Tell me, if you know all these things!
| התבננת עד-רחבי-ארץ הגד אם-ידעת כלה |
19 “Where is the road to the place where light comes from? And [can you tell me] where darkness lives?
| אי-זה הדרך ישכן-אור וחשך אי-זה מקמו |
20 Can take me to its home? Do you know where the road is that goes there?
| כי תקחנו אל-גבולו וכי-תבין נתיבות ביתו |
21 I am sure that you know these things, because you [talk as though you] were born before the time when all things were created; you [must] be very old!
| ידעת כי-אז תולד ומספר ימיך רבים |
22 “Have you entered the place where I store the snow and the place where I keep the hail?
| הבאת אל-אצרות שלג ואוצרות ברד תראה |
23 I store the snow and the hail [in order that I can use them to help my people] when [they have] troubles, in times when [they are fighting] wars [DOU].
| אשר-חשכתי לעת-צר ליום קרב ומלחמה |
24 And where is the road to the place from which I cause the lightning to flash? Where is the place from where the east wind begins to blow over all the earth?
| אי-זה הדרך יחלק אור יפץ קדים עלי-ארץ |
25 Who created the channels in which the rain comes down from the sky? Who makes the roads for the thunder/lightning?
| מי-פלג לשטף תעלה ודרך לחזיז קלות |
26 Who causes rain to fall in the desert, in places where no one lives?
| להמטיר על-ארץ לא-איש-- מדבר לא-אדם בו |
27 Who sends the rain that gives moisture/water to areas where nothing has grown, with the result that grass begins to grow again?
| להשביע שאה ומשאה ולהצמיח מצא דשא |
28 Does the rain have a father? Does the dew [also] have a father?
| היש-למטר אב או מי-הוליד אגלי-טל |
29 And from whose womb does ice come [in the (winter/cold season)]? Who gives birth to the frost that comes down from the sky?
| מבטן מי יצא הקרח וכפר שמים מי ילדו |
30 [In the winter, ] the water [freezes and] becomes hard, like a rock, and the surface of lakes becomes frozen.
| כאבן מים יתחבאו ופני תהום יתלכדו |
31 “[Job], can you fasten the chains that hold the stars together in clusters/groups in the sky?
| התקשר מעדנות כימה או-משכות כסיל תפתח |
32 Can you tell the stars when they should shine? Can you guide [the stars in the groups in the northern sky whose names are] the Big Bear and the Little Bear?
| התציא מזרות בעתו ועיש על-בניה תנחם |
33 Do you know the laws that the stars must obey? Can you cause those same laws to rule [everything here] on the earth?
| הידעת חקות שמים אם-תשים משטרו בארץ |
34 “Can you shout to the clouds and cause rain to pour down on you?
| התרים לעב קולך ושפעת-מים תכסך |
35 Can you cause flashes of lightning to come down and strike where you want it to strike? Do those flashes say to you, ‘Where do you want us to strike next?’
| התשלח ברקים וילכו ויאמרו לך הננו |
36 Who enables the clouds to know when they should cause rain to fall?
| מי-שת בטחות חכמה או מי-נתן לשכוי בינה |
37 And who is skilled/wise enough to be able to count the clouds? Who can tilt the jugs of water in the sky [to cause the rain to fall],
| מי-יספר שחקים בחכמה ונבלי שמים מי ישכיב |
38 with the result that the dry ground becomes hard as the dry (clods/lumps of soil) [become wet and] stick together?
| בצקת עפר למוצק ורגבים ידבקו |
39 “When a lioness and her cubs crouch in their dens or hide in a thicket, [waiting for some animal to pass by that they can kill, ] can you find animals for a lioness to kill so that [she and] her cubs can [eat the meat and] not be hungry any more?
| התצוד ללביא טרף וחית כפירים תמלא |
| כי-ישחו במעונות ישבו בסכה למו-ארב |
41 Who provides dead animals for crows, when the baby crows are calling out to me [for food], [when they are so weak] because of their lack of food [that] they (stagger around/can hardly stand up) [in their nests]?”
| מי יכין לערב צידו כי-ילדו אל-אל ישועו יתעו לבלי-אכל |
