Bible in Basic English
Which is the way to the place where the wind is measured out, and the east wind sent out over the earth?
By whom has the way been cut for the flowing of the rain, and the flaming of the thunder;
Causing rain to come on a land where no man is living, on the waste land which has no people;
To give water to the land where there is waste and destruction, and to make the dry land green with young grass?
Has the rain a father? or who gave birth to the drops of night mist?
Out of whose body came the ice? and who gave birth to the cold mist of heaven?
The waters are joined together, hard as a stone, and the face of the deep is covered.
Are the bands of the Pleiades fixed by you, or are the cords of Orion made loose?
Do you make Mazzaroth come out in its right time, or are the Bear and its children guided by you?
Have you knowledge of the laws of the heavens? did you give them rule over the earth?
Is your voice sent up to the cloud, so that you may be covered by the weight of waters?
Do you send out the thunder-flames, so that they may go, and say to you, Here we are?
Who has put wisdom in the high clouds, or given knowledge to the lights of the north?
By whose wisdom are the clouds numbered, or the water-skins of the heavens turned to the earth,
When the earth becomes hard as metal, and is joined together in masses?
Do you go after food for the she-lion, or get meat so that the young lions may have enough,
When they are stretched out in their holes, and are waiting in the brushwood?
Who gives in the evening the meat he is searching for, when his young ones are crying to God; when the young lions with loud noise go wandering after their food?
— Job 38:24-1964, Bible in Basic English
“By what way is the lightning distributed, or the east wind scattered on the earth? Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm; To cause it to rain on a land where no man is; on the wilderness, in which there is no man; to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to spring forth? Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew? Out of whose womb came the ice? The gray frost of the sky, who has given birth to it? The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen. "Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth the constellations in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish its dominion over the earth? "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That abundance of waters may cover you? Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, 'Here we are?' Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind? Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of the sky, when the dust runs into a mass, and the clods of earth stick together? "Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens, and lie in wait in the thicket? Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?”
No doubt you have knowledge of it, for then you had come to birth, and the number of your days is great.
Have you come into the secret place of snow, or have you seen the store-houses of the ice-drops,
Which I have kept for the time of trouble, for the day of war and fighting?
Which is the way to the place where the wind is measured out, and the east wind sent out over the earth?
By whom has the way been cut for the flowing of the rain, and the flaming of the thunder;
Causing rain to come on a land where no man is living, on the waste land which has no people;
To give water to the land where there is waste and destruction, and to make the dry land green with young grass?
Has the rain a father? or who gave birth to the drops of night mist?
Out of whose body came the ice? and who gave birth to the cold mist of heaven?
The waters are joined together, hard as a stone, and the face of the deep is covered.
Are the bands of the Pleiades fixed by you, or are the cords of Orion made loose?
Do you make Mazzaroth come out in its right time, or are the Bear and its children guided by you?
Have you knowledge of the laws of the heavens? did you give them rule over the earth?
Is your voice sent up to the cloud, so that you may be covered by the weight of waters?
Do you send out the thunder-flames, so that they may go, and say to you, Here we are?
Who has put wisdom in the high clouds, or given knowledge to the lights of the north?
By whose wisdom are the clouds numbered, or the water-skins of the heavens turned to the earth,
When the earth becomes hard as metal, and is joined together in masses?
Do you go after food for the she-lion, or get meat so that the young lions may have enough,
When they are stretched out in their holes, and are waiting in the brushwood?
Who gives in the evening the meat he is searching for, when his young ones are crying to God; when the young lions with loud noise go wandering after their food?