What does Job 38:1-41 really mean?

¹ Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
² “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
³ Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.
⁴ “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
⁵ Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
⁶ On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,
⁷ when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
⁸ “Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb,
⁹ when I made the clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
¹⁰ and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors,
¹¹ and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?
¹² “Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
and caused the dawn to know its place,
¹³ that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?
¹⁴ It is changed like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment.
¹⁵ “From the wicked their light is withheld,
and their uplifted arm is broken.”
¹⁶ “Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?”
¹⁷ Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
¹⁸ Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.
¹⁹ “Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness,”
²⁰ that you may take it to its territory
and that you may discern the paths to its home?
²¹ You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!
²² “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,”
²³ which I have reserved for the time of trouble,
for the day of battle and war?
²⁴ What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?
²⁵ Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain
and a way for the thunderbolt,
²⁶ to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man,
²⁷ to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground sprout with grass?
²⁸ “Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew?”
²⁹ “From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven?
³⁰ “The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.”
³¹ “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion?”
³² “Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season,
or can you guide the Bear with its children?
³³ Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
Can you establish their rule on the earth?
³⁴ “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
that a flood of waters may cover you?
³⁵ Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go
and say to you, ‘Here we are’?
³⁶ Who has put wisdom in the inward parts
or given understanding to the mind?
³⁷ Who can number the clouds by wisdom?
Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
³⁸ “when the dust runs into a mass and the clods stick fast together?”
³⁹ “Can you hunt the prey for the lion,
or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
⁴⁰ when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket?
⁴¹ Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?