Job 25–26

BILDAD SPEAKS

25Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

²Dominion and dreadⁱ belong to him,

the one who establishes harmony in his heights.

³Can his troops be numbered?

Does his light not shine on everyone?

⁴How can a human be justified before God?^j

How can one born of woman be pure?^k

⁵If even the moon does not shine

and the stars are not pure in his sight,^l

⁶how much less a human, who is a maggot,

a son of man,^A who is a worm!^m

JOB’S REPLY TO BILDAD

26Then Job answered:

²How you have helpedⁿ the powerless

and delivered the arm that is weak!

³How you have counseled the unwise^o

and abundantly provided insight!

⁴With whom did you speak these words?

Whose breath came out of your mouth?

⁵The departed spirits tremble

beneath the waters and all that inhabit them.^p

⁶Sheol^q is naked before God,

and Abaddon^r has no covering.^s

⁷He stretches the northern skies over empty space;

he hangs the earth on nothing.

⁸He wraps up the water in his clouds,

yet the clouds do not burst beneath its weight.^a

⁹He obscures the view of his throne,

spreading his cloud over it.

¹⁰He laid out the horizon on the surface of the waters^b

at the boundary between light and darkness.

¹¹The pillars that hold up the sky tremble,

astounded at his rebuke.^c

¹²By his power he stirred^d the sea,

and by his understanding he crushed Rahab.^e

¹³By his breath the heavens gained their beauty;

his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.^Bf

¹⁴These are but the fringes of his ways;

how faint is the word we hear of him!

Who can understand his mighty thunder?