Job 38–41

Chapter 38

Then the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind, and said:

²Who is this that wrappeth up sentences in unskilful words?

³Gird up thy loins like a man: I will ask thee, and answer thou me.

⁴Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? tell me if thou hast understanding.

⁵Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest or who hath stretched the line upon it?

⁶Upon what are its bases grounded? or who laid the corner stone thereof,

⁷When the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody?

⁸Who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth as issuing out of the womb:

⁹When I made a cloud the garment thereof, and wrapped it in a mist as in swaddling bands?

¹⁰I set my bounds around it, and made it bars and doors:

¹¹And I said: Hitherto thou shalt come, and shalt go no further, and here thou shalt break thy swelling waves.

¹²Didst thou since thy birth command the morning, and shew the dawning of the day its place?

¹³And didst thou hold the extremities of the earth shaking them, and hast thou shaken the ungodly out of it?

¹⁴The seal shall be restored as clay, and shall stand as a garment.

¹⁵From the wicked their light shall be taken away, and the high arm shall be broken.

¹⁶Hast thou entered into the depths of the sea, and walked in the lowest parts of the deep?

¹⁷Have the gates of death been opened to thee, and hast thou seen the darksome doors?

¹⁸Hast thou considered the breadth of the earth? tell me, if thou knowest all things?

¹⁹Where is the way where light dwelleth, and where is the place of darkness?

²⁰That thou mayst bring every thing to its own bounds, and understand the paths of the house thereof.

²¹Didst thou know then that thou shouldst be born? and didst thou know the number of thy days?

²²Hast thou entered into the storehouses of the snow, or hast thou beheld the treasures of the hail:

²³Which I have prepared for the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war?

²⁴By what way is the light spread, and heat divided upon the earth?

²⁵Who gave a course to violent showers, or a way for noisy thunder:

²⁶That it should rain on the earth without man in the wilderness, where no mortal dwelleth:

²⁷That it should fill the desert and desolate land, and should bring forth green grass?

²⁸Who is the father of rain? or who begot the drops of dew?

²⁹Out of whose womb came the ice? and the frost from heaven who hath gendered it?

³⁰The waters are hardened like a stone, and the surface of the deep is congealed.

³¹Shalt thou be able to join together the shining stars the Pleiades, or canst thou stop the turning about of Arcturus?

³²Canst thou bring forth the day star in its time, and make the evening star to rise upon the children of the earth?

³³Dost thou know the order of heaven, and canst thou set down the reason thereof on the earth?

³⁴Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that an abundance of waters may cover thee?

³⁵Canst thou send lightnings, and will they go, and will they return and say to thee: Here we are?

³⁶Who hath put wisdom in the heart of man? or who gave the cock understanding?

³⁷Who can declare the order of the heavens, or who can make the harmony of heaven to sleep?

³⁸When was the dust poured on the earth, and the clods fastened together?

³⁹Wilt thou take the prey for the lioness, and satisfy the appetite of her whelps,

⁴⁰When they couch in the dens and lie in wait in holes?

⁴¹Who provideth food for the raven, when her young ones cry to God, wandering about, because they have no meat?

Chapter 39

Knowest thou the time when the wild goats bring forth among the rocks, or hast thou observed the hinds when they fawn?

²Hast thou numbered the months of their conceiving, or knowest thou the time when they bring forth?

³They bow themselves to bring forth young, and they cast them, and send forth roarings.

⁴Their young are weaned and go to feed: they go forth, and return not to them.

⁵Who hath sent out the wild ass free, and who hath loosed his bonds?

⁶To whom I have given a house in the wilderness, and his dwellings in the barren land.

⁷He scorneth the multitude of the city, he heareth not the cry of the driver.

⁸He looketh round about the mountains of his pasture, and seeketh for every green thing,

⁹Shall the rhinoceros be willing to serve thee, or will he stay at thy crib?

¹⁰Canst thou bind the rhinoceros with thy thong to plough, or will he break the clods of the valleys after thee?

¹¹Wilt thou have confidence in his great strength, and leave thy labours to him?

¹²Wilt thou trust him that he will render thee the seed, and gather it into thy barnfloor?

¹³The wing of the ostrich is like the wings of the heron, and of the hawk.

¹⁴When she leaveth her eggs on the earth, thou perhaps wilt warm them in the dust.

¹⁵She forgetteth that the foot may tread upon them, or that the beasts of the field may break them.

¹⁶She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers, she hath laboured in vain, no fear constraining her.

¹⁷For God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he given her understanding.

¹⁸When time shall be, she setteth up her wings on high: she scorneth the horse and his rider.

¹⁹Wilt thou give strength to the horse or clothe his neck with neighing?

²⁰Wilt thou lift him up like the locusts? the glory of his nostrils is terror.

²¹He breaketh up the earth with his hoof, he pranceth boldly, he goeth forward to meet armed men.

²²He despiseth fear, he turneth not his back to the sword.

²³Above him shall the quiver rattle, the spear and shield shall glitter.

²⁴Chasing and raging he swalloweth the ground, neither doth he make account when the noise of the trumpet soundeth.

²⁵When he heareth the trumpet he saith: Ha, ha: he smelleth the battle afar off, the encouraging of the captains, and the shouting of the army.

²⁶Doth the hawk wax feathered by thy wisdom, spreading her wings to the south?

²⁷Will the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest in high places?

²⁸She abideth among the rocks, and dwelleth among cragged flints, and stony hills, where there is no access.

²⁹From thence she looketh for the prey, and her eyes behold afar off.

³⁰Her young ones shall suck up blood: and wheresoever the carcass shall be, she is immediately there.

³¹And the Lord went on, and said to Job:

³²Shall he that contendeth with God be so easily silenced? surely he that reproveth God, ought to answer him.

³³Then Job answered the Lord, and said:

³⁴What can I answer, who hath spoken inconsiderately? I will lay my hand upon my mouth.

³⁵One thing I have spoken, which I wish I had not said: and another, to which I will add no more.

Chapter 40

And the Lord answering Job out of the whirlwind, said:

²Gird up thy loins like a man: I will ask thee, and do thou tell me.

³Wilt thou make void my judgment: and condemn me, that thou mayst be justified?

⁴And hast thou an arm like God, and canst thou thunder with a voice like him?

⁵Clothe thyself with beauty, and set thyself up on high, and be glorious, and put on goodly garments.

⁶Scatter the proud in thy indignation, and behold every arrogant man, and humble him.

⁷Look on all that are proud, and confound them, and crush the wicked in their place,

⁸Hide them in the dust together, and plunge their faces into the pit.

⁹Then I will confess that thy right hand is able to save thee.

¹⁰Behold behemoth whom I made with thee, he eateth grass like an ox.

¹¹His strength is in his loins, and his force in the navel of his belly.

¹²He setteth up his tail like a cedar, the sinews of his testicles are wrapped together.

¹³His bones are like pipes of brass, his gristle like plates of iron.

¹⁴He is the beginning of the ways of God, who made him, he will apply his sword.

¹⁵To him the mountains bring forth grass: there all the beasts of the field shall play.

¹⁶He sleepeth under the shadow, in the covert of the reed, and in moist places.

¹⁷The shades cover his shadow, the willows of the brook shall compass him about.

¹⁸Behold, he will drink up a river, and not wonder: and he trusteth that the Jordan may run into his mouth.

¹⁹In his eyes as with a hook he shall take him, and bore through his nostrils with stakes.

²⁰Canst thou draw out the leviathan with a hook, or canst thou tie his tongue with a cord?

²¹Canst thou put a ring in his nose, or bore through his jaw with a buckle?

²²Will he make many supplications to thee, or speak soft words to thee?

²³Will he make a covenant with thee, and wilt thou take him to be a servant for ever,

²⁴Shalt thou play with him as with a bird, or tie him up for thy handmaids?

²⁵Shall friends cut him in pieces, shall merchants divide him?

²⁶Wilt thou fill nets with his skin, and the cabins of fishes with his head?

²⁷Lay thy hand upon him: remember the battle, and speak no more.

²⁸Behold his hope shall fail him, and in the sight of all he shall be cast down.

Chapter 41

I will not stir him up, like one that is cruel, for who can resist my countenance?

²Who hath given me before that I should repay him? All things that are under heaven are mine.

³I will not spare him, nor his mighty words, and framed to make supplication.

⁴Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can go into the midst of his mouth?

⁵Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about.

⁶His body is like molten shields, shut close up with scales pressing upon one another.

⁷One is joined to another, and not so much as any air can come between them:

⁸They stick one to another and they hold one another fast, and shall not be separated.

⁹His sneezing is like the shining of fire, and his eyes like the eyelids of the morning.

¹⁰Out of his mouth go forth lamps, like torches of lighted fire.

¹¹Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, like that of a pot heated and boiling.

¹²His breath kindleth coals, and a flame cometh forth out of his mouth.

¹³In his neck strength shall dwell, and want goeth before his face.

¹⁴The…