וַיַּעַן־ה' אֶת־אִיּוֹב מִן הַסְּעָרָה וַיֹּאמַר

The Lord answered Job from the tempest, the wind that brought down the house of his firstborn and killed his sons, and said:

מִי זֶה מַחְשִׁיךְ עֵצָה בְמִלִּין בְּלִי־דָעַת

Who is this who, instead of uttering enlightening words of wisdom, darkens counsel with ignorant words?

אֱזָר נָא כְגֶבֶר חֲלָצֶיךָ וְאֶשְׁאָלְךָ וְהוֹדִיעֵנִי

Gird now your loins like a man. Stand and ready yourself, as I will ask you, and you will inform Me, attempt to respond to Me. God’s speech consists of a series of rhetorical questions.

אֵיפֹה הָיִיתָ בְּיָסְדִי־אָרֶץ הַגֵּד אִם־יָדַעְתָּ בִינָה

Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell, if you have achieved understanding, if you have any knowledge of the matter:

מִי־שָׂם מְמַדֶּיהָ כִּי תֵדָע אוֹ מִי־נָטָה עָלֶיהָ קָּו

Who set its dimensions, if you know, or who extended the measure, a measuring implement, over it? You are not familiar with My plans for the world or the manner of its formation.

עַל־מָה אֲדָנֶיהָ הָטְבָּעוּ אוֹ מִי־יָרָה אֶבֶן פִּנָּתָהּ

Upon what were its bases for the pillars upon which the world rests, so to speak, sunk? You do not know what the world stands on, or who established its cornerstone, the foundation of the earth,

בְּרָן יַחַד כּוֹכְבֵי בֹקֶר וַיָּרִיעוּ כָּל־בְּנֵי אֱלֹהִים

when the morning stars first sang together and all the children of the great, the angels, shouted for joy?

וַיָּסֶךְ בִּדְלָתַיִם יָם בְּגִיחוֹ מֵרֶחֶם יֵצֵא

After asking questions that demonstrate to Job that he is unfamiliar with the beginning of the world and the secret of its formation and existence, God then depicts the might of the sea, whose waves can be halted only by divine power. He starts by proclaiming that from creation, the sea has been held back so that it cannot break out beyond its boundaries: Who dammed the sea with doors so that it should not flood the earth when it burst out and emerged from the womb, at the time of the sea’s birth,

בְּשׂוּמִי עָנָן לְבֻשׁוֹ ועֲרָפֶל חֲתֻלָּתוֹ

when I placed a cloud as its garment, when I dressed the sea with a cloud, and fog I placed as its swaddling? It appears as though the great sea reaches to the edges of heaven, with the clouds and fog wrapped around it like a garment.

וָאֶשְׁבֹּר עָלָיו חֻקִּי וָאָשִׂים בְּרִיחַ וּדְלָתָיִם

I imposed My limitations upon it. I stopped the sea’s advance by means of the boundary I erected for it, and I set a bar and doors against the sea, preventing it from encroaching upon the land.

וָאֹמַר עַד־פֹּה תָבוֹא וְלֹא תֹסִיף וּפֹא יָשִׁית בִּגְאוֹן גַּלֶּיךָ

I said to the sea: You shall come this far and not continue any further, and here the foam of your waves, which seek to rise ever higher, will be set.

הֲמִיָּמֶיךָ צִוִּיתָ בֹּקֶר

After depicting the sea, God speaks of the light: In all your days, have you commanded the appearance of the morning, and have you ever apprised the dawn of its place

יִדַּעְתָּה הַשַּׁחַר מְקֹמוֹ לֶאֱחֹז בְּכַנְפוֹת הָאָרֶץ וְיִנָּעֲרוּ רְשָׁעִים מִמֶּנָּה

that it might spread from there to seize the ends of the earth, and the wicked will be shaken from it? When the light shines on the earth, the wicked, who act under the cover of darkness, cease their nefarious activities.

תִּתְהַפֵּךְ כְּחֹמֶר חוֹתָם וְיִתְיַצְּבוּ כְּמוֹ לְבוּשׁ

Each morning, it, the land, changes like the soft clay of a seal, which can be shaped into various forms, as the sun affects it in different ways, and they, people, present themselves upon it like a fresh garment every day.

ויִמָּנַע מֵרְשָׁעִים אוֹרָם וּזְרוֹעַ רָמָה תִּשָּׁבֵר

Their light, the light of the sun, will be withheld from the wicked, and the upraised, strong, and powerful arm of the haughty will be broken. This will occur in the future, when this light shines on the entire land.

הֲבָאתָ עַד־נִבְכֵי יָם ובְחֵקֶר תְּהוֹם הִתְהַלָּכְתָּ

Have you entered into the depths of the sea? Have you walked in the recesses of the deep? Do you know what goes on in the depths?

הֲנִגְלוּ לְךָ שַׁעֲרֵי־מָוֶת וְשַׁעֲרֵי צַלְמָוֶת תִּרְאֶה

Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? Death is also part of existence. Have you deciphered its secrets?

הִתְבֹּנַנְתָּ עַד רַחֲבֵי אָרֶץ הַגֵּד אִם־יָדַעְתָּ כֻלָּהּ

Have you gazed until the expanses of the earth? Tell, if you know all of it. You do not know everything about the world.

אֵי־זֶה הַדֶּרֶךְ יִשְׁכָּן־אוֹר וְחֹשֶׁךְ אֵי־זֶה מְקֹמוֹ

On which path does the light dwell, and darkness, what is its place

כִּי תִקָּחֶנּוּ אֶל־גְּבוּלוֹ וְכִי תָבִין נְתִיבוֹת בֵּיתוֹ

that you would take it, both the light and the darkness, and bring each one to its domain, its proper place, and that you would understand which are the paths of its home, leading to those places?

יָדַעְתָּ כִּי־אָז תִּוָּלֵד וּמִסְפַּר יָמֶיךָ רַבִּים

Before continuing to lay out His questions before Job, which serve to emphasize the lowliness of man and his brief life span, God tells him mockingly: If you know all these matters, the reason must be for you were born then, when the world was created, and the number of your days is many. One who has lived less than the duration of the world cannot know all these things; they are known only to Me.

הֲבָאתָ אֶל־אֹצְרוֹת שָׁלֶג וְאוֹצְרוֹת בָּרָד תִּרְאֶה

Have you come to the storehouses of snow, and have you seen the storehouses of hail

אֲשֶׁר־חָשַׂכְתִּי לְעֶת־צָר לְיוֹם קְרָב וּמִלְחָמָה

that I have withheld for a time of trouble, or, alternatively, for the time to punish the enemy, for a day of battle and war? When I wage war against the wicked, I will bring down upon them a flood of snow and hail.

אֵי־זֶה הַדֶּרֶךְ יֵחָלֶק אוֹר יָפֵץ קָדִים עֲלֵי־אָרֶץ

What is the way that the light breaks through? From where is it that the east wind is scattered upon the earth?

מִי־פִלַּג לשֶׁטֶף תְּעָלָה ודֶרֶךְ לַחֲזִיז קֹלוֹת

Who cleaved a channel for the torrent, a path through which the rain descends from the clouds so that it reaches particular areas, and who cleared a way for the flash of the thunder

לְהַמְטִיר עַל־אֶרֶץ לֹא אִישׁ מִדְבָּר לֹא־אָדָם בּוֹ

to rain even on a land with no man, a wilderness, no person in it,

לְהַשְׂבִּיעַ שֹׁאָה וּמְשֹׁאָה וּלְהַצְמִיחַ מֹצָא דֶשֶׁא

in order to sate the desolation and wasteland, the neglected places that no one cares to irrigate, and to cause the grass to sprout there?

הֲיֵשׁ־לַמָּטָר אָב אוֹ מִי־הוֹלִיד אֶגְלֵי־טָל

Does the rain have a father? And who begot the drops of dew? What is the source of precipitation?

מִבֶּטֶן מִי יָצָא הַקָּרַח וּכְפֹר שָׁמַיִם מִי יְלָדוֹ

From whose belly did the ice emerge, and the frost of heaven, who gave birth to it?

כָּאֶבֶן מַיִם יִתְחַבָּאוּ וּפְנֵי תְהוֹם יִתְלַכָּדוּ

Like stone, water hides itself when it turns into blocks of ice, and the face of the deep, where large amounts of water are gathered, congeals into ice.

הַתְקַשֵּׁר מַעֲדַנּוֹת כִּימָה אוֹ־מֹשְׁכוֹת כְּסִיל תְּפַתֵּחַ

God now speaks of the stars: Will you tie the chains of the Pleiades? Can you confine and control the star clusters, such as Pleiades? Or can you untie the reins of Orion? Orion is a constellation of stars (see commentary on 9:9).

הֲתֹצִיא מַזָּרוֹת בְּעִתּוֹ וְעַיִשׁ עַל־בָּנֶיהָ תַנְחֵם

Will you bring out the constellations in their season and guide Ursa, a bright star in the star cluster of Pleiades (see commentary on 9:9), with her sons, smaller stars?

הֲיָדַעְתָּ חֻקּוֹת שָׁמָיִם אִם־תָּשִׂים מִשְׁטָרוֹ בָאָרֶץ

Do you know the rules of the heavens, the laws of the heavenly bodies? Will you establish its, heaven’s, dominion on earth?

הֲתָרִים לָעָב קוֹלֶךָ ושִׁפְעַת־מַיִם תְּכַסֶּךָּ

Will you raise your voice to the cloud and instruct it where to move, so that a cascade of water, rainwater, will immediately cover you?

הַתְשַׁלַּח בְּרָקִים וְיֵלֵכוּ וְיֹאמְרוּ לְךָ הִנֵּנוּ

Will you have the power to cast lightning and then it will go and say to you, in submission and readiness to fulfill your instructions: Here we are?

מִי־שָׁת בַּטֻּחוֹת חָכְמָה אוֹ מִי־נָתַן לַשֶּׂכְוִי בִינָה

Who set wisdom in obscurity, in concealed, secret places, or, alternatively, in the kidneys or innards? Or who gave understanding to the heart, or to the rooster, so that it knows to crow at regular times of the day?

מִי־יְסַפֵּר שְׁחָקִים בְּחָכְמָה וְנִבְלֵי שָׁמַיִם מִי יַשְׁכִּיב

Who will relate about the skies with wisdom, and who can lay down the containers of the heavens, the clouds that are filled with water, so that they rain down on the world,

בְּצֶקֶת עָפָר לַמּוּצָק וּרְגָבִים יְדֻבָּקוּ

when the dust consolidates into a mass and the clods stick together from the rainfall?

הֲתָצוּד לְלָבִיא טָרֶף וְחַיַּת כְּפִירִים תְּמַלֵּא

God returns to His descriptions of life on earth: Will you hunt prey for the lion or fill the need of young lions? Can you provide the needs of wild animals

כִּי יָשֹׁחוּ בַמְּעוֹנוֹת יֵשְׁבוּ בַסֻּכָּה לְמוֹ־אָרֶב

when they crouch in their dens and wait in a lair for their ambush of their prey?

מִי יָכִין לָעֹרֵב צֵידוֹ כִּי יְלָדָו אֶל־אֵל יְשַׁוֵּעוּ יִתְעוּ לִבְלִי־אֹכֶל

Who prepares for the unsightly crow, the most despised of birds, its prey when its young, its wretched offspring, plead and cry to God, wandering without food?