Bible in Basic English
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 38:29-1964, Bible in Basic English
“Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee? Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are? Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart? Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven, When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together? Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions, When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait? Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat. ”
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?