The Lord’s First Speech

¹Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:[#sn This is not the storm described by Elihu – in fact, the Lord ignores Elihu. The storm is a common accompaniment for a theophany (see Ezek 1:4; Nah 1:3; Zech 9:14).]

²“Who is this who darkens counsel[#tn The demonstrative pronoun is used here to emphasize the interrogative pronoun (see GKC 442 §136.c).; #sn The referent of “counsel” here is not the debate between Job and the friends, but the purposes of God (see Ps 33:10; Prov 19:21; Isa 19:17). Dhorme translates it “Providence.”]

with words without knowledge?

³Get ready for a difficult task like a man;[#tn Heb “Gird up your loins.” This idiom basically describes taking the hem of the long garment or robe and pulling it up between the legs and tucking it into the front of the belt, allowing easier and freer movement of the legs. “Girding the loins” meant the preparation for some difficult task (Jer 1:17), or for battle (Isa 5:27), or for running (1 Kgs 18:46). C. Gordon suggests that it includes belt-wrestling, a form of hand-to-hand mortal combat (“Belt-wrestling in the Bible World,” HUCA 23 [1950/51]: 136).]

I will question you

and you will inform me!

God’s questions to Job

⁴“Where were you

when I laid the foundation of the earth?

Tell me, if you possess understanding!

⁵Who set its measurements – if you know –[#tn The particle כּ (ki) is taken here for a conditional clause, “if you know” (see GKC 498 §159.dd). Others take it as “surely” with a biting irony.]

or who stretched a measuring line across it?

⁶On what were its bases set,[#tn For the interrogative serving as a genitive, see GKC 442 §136.b.; #sn The world was conceived of as having bases and pillars, but these poetic descriptions should not be pressed too far (e.g., see Ps 24:2, which may be worded as much for its polemics against Canaanite mythology as anything).]

or who laid its cornerstone –

⁷when the morning stars sang in chorus,[#sn The expression “morning stars” (Heb “stars of the morning”) is here placed in parallelism to the angels, “the sons of God.” It may refer to the angels under the imagery of the stars, or, as some prefer, it may poetically include all creation. There is a parallel also with the foundation of the temple which was accompanied by song (see Ezra 3:10,11). But then the account of the building of the original tabernacle was designed to mirror creation (see M. Fishbane, Biblical Text and Texture).; #tn The construction, an adverbial clause of time, uses רָנָן (ranan), which is often a ringing cry, an exultation. The parallelism with “shout for joy” shows this to be enthusiastic acclamation. The infinitive is then continued in the next colon with the vav (ו) consecutive preterite.; #tn Heb “together.” This is Dhorme’s suggestion for expressing how they sang together.]

and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸“Who shut up the sea with doors[#tn The MT has “and he shut up.” The Vulgate has “Who?” and so many commentaries and editions adopt this reading, if not from the Vulgate, then from the sense of the sequence in the text itself.]

when it burst forth, coming out of the womb,

⁹when I made the storm clouds its garment,[#tn The temporal clause here uses the infinitive from שִׂים (sim, “to place; to put; to make”). It underscores the sovereign placing of things.]

and thick darkness its swaddling band,

¹⁰when I prescribed its limits,[#tc The MT has “and I broke,” which cannot mean “set, prescribed” or the like. The LXX and the Vulgate have such a meaning, suggesting a verb עֲשִׁית (’ashiyt, “plan, prescribe”). A. Guillaume finds an Arabic word with a meaning “measured it by span by my decree.” Would God give himself a decree? R. Gordis simply argues that the basic meaning “break” develops the connotation of “decide, determine” (2 Sam 5:24; Job 14:3; Dan 11:36).]

and set in place its bolts and doors,

¹¹when I said, ‘To here you may come[#tn The imperfect verb receives the permission nuance here.]

and no farther,

here your proud waves will be confined’?

¹²Have you ever in your life commanded the morning,[#tn The Hebrew idiom is “have you from your days?” It means “never in your life” (see 1 Sam 25:28; 1 Kgs 1:6).]

or made the dawn know its place,

¹³that it might seize the corners of the earth,[#sn The poetic image is that darkness or night is like a blanket that covers the earth, and at dawn it is taken by the edges and shaken out. Since the wicked function under the cover of night, they are included in the shaking when the dawn comes up.]

and shake the wicked out of it?

¹⁴The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;[#sn The verse needs to be understood in the context: as the light shines in the dawn, the features of the earth take on a recognizable shape or form. The language is phenomenological.]

its features are dyed like a garment.

¹⁵Then from the wicked the light is withheld,

and the arm raised in violence is broken.

¹⁶Have you gone to the springs that fill the sea,[#tn Heb “the springs of the sea.” The words “that fill” are supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning of the phrase.]

or walked about in the recesses of the deep?

¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed to you?[#tn Heb “uncovered to you.”]

Have you seen the gates of deepest darkness?

¹⁸Have you considered the vast expanses of the earth?

Tell me, if you know it all!

¹⁹“In what direction does light reside,[#tn The interrogative with דֶרֶךְ (derekh) means “in what road” or “in what direction.”]

and darkness, where is its place,

²⁰that you may take them to their borders

and perceive the pathways to their homes?

²¹You know, for you were born before them;[#tn The imperfect verb after the adverb אָז (’az, “then”) functions as a preterite: “you were born.” The line is sarcastic.]

and the number of your days is great!

²²Have you entered the storehouse of the snow,[#sn Snow and ice are thought of as being in store, brought out by God for specific purposes, such as times of battle (see Josh 10:11; Exod 9:2ff.; Isa 28:17; Isa 30:30; and Ps 18:12 [13]).]

or seen the armory of the hail,

²³which I reserve for the time of trouble,

for the day of war and battle?

²⁴In what direction is lightning dispersed,[#tn Because the parallel with “light” and “east wind” is not tight, Hoffmann proposed ‘ed instead, “mist.” This has been adopted by many. G. R. Driver suggests “parching heat” (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 91-92).]

or the east winds scattered over the earth?

²⁵Who carves out a channel for the heavy rains,

and a path for the rumble of thunder,

²⁶to cause it to rain on an uninhabited land,[#tn Heb “on a land, no man.”]

a desert where there are no human beings,

²⁷to satisfy a devastated and desolate land,

and to cause it to sprout with vegetation?

²⁸Does the rain have a father,

or who has fathered the drops of the dew?

²⁹From whose womb does the ice emerge,

and the frost from the sky, who gives birth to it,

³⁰when the waters become hard like stone,[#tn Several suggest that the verb is not from חָבָא (khava’, “to hide”) but from a homonym, “to congeal.” This may be too difficult to support, however.]

when the surface of the deep is frozen solid?

³¹Can you tie the bands of the Pleiades,[#tn This word is found here and in 1 Sam 15:32. Dhorme suggests, with others, that there has been a metathesis (a reversal of consonants), and it is the same word found in Job 31:36 (“bind”). G. R. Driver takes it as “cluster” without changing the text (“Two astronomical passages in the Old Testament,” JTS 7 [1956] :3).]

or release the cords of Orion?

³²Can you lead out

the constellations in their seasons,

or guide the Bear with its cubs?

³³Do you know the laws of the heavens,

or can you set up their rule over the earth?

³⁴Can you raise your voice to the clouds

so that a flood of water covers you?

³⁵Can you send out lightning bolts, and they go?

Will they say to you, ‘Here we are’?

³⁶Who has put wisdom in the heart,[#tn This verse is difficult because of the two words, טֻחוֹת (tukhot, rendered here “heart”) and שֶׂכְוִי (sekhvi, here “mind”). They have been translated a number of ways: “meteor” and “celestial appearance”; the stars “Procyon” and “Sirius”; “inward part” and “mind”; even as birds, “ibis” and “cock.” One expects them to have something to do with nature – clouds and the like. The RSV accordingly took them to mean “meteor” (from a verb “to wander”) and “a celestial appearance.” But these meanings are not well-attested.]

or has imparted understanding to the mind?

³⁷Who by wisdom can count the clouds,

and who can tip over the water jars of heaven,

³⁸when the dust hardens into a mass,[#tn The word means “to flow” or “to cast” (as in casting metals). So the noun developed the sense of “hard,” as in cast metal.]

and the clumps of earth stick together?

³⁹“Do you hunt prey for the lioness,

and satisfy the appetite of the lions,

⁴⁰when they crouch in their dens,

when they wait in ambush in the thicket?

⁴¹Who prepares prey for the raven,

when its young cry out to God

and wander about for lack of food?