Job 41–42

41¹ “Can you draw out ^uLeviathan² with a fishhook

or press down his tongue with a cord?

²Can you put ^va rope in his nose

or pierce his jaw with ^va hook?

³Will he make many pleas to you?

Will he speak to you soft words?

⁴Will he make a covenant with you

to take him for ^wyour servant forever?

⁵Will you play with him as with a bird,

or will you put him on a leash for your girls?

⁶Will traders bargain over him?

Will they divide him up among the merchants?

⁷Can you fill his skin with harpoons

or his head with fishing spears?

⁸Lay your hands on him;

remember the battle—you will not do it again!

⁹³ Behold, the hope of a man is false;

he is laid low even at the sight of him.

¹⁰No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up.

Who then is he who can stand before me?

^11xWho has first given to me, that I should repay him?

^yWhatever is under the whole heaven is mine.

¹²“I will not keep silence concerning his limbs,

or his mighty strength, or his goodly frame.

¹³Who can strip off his outer garment?

Who would come near him with a bridle?

¹⁴Who can open the doors of his face?

Around his teeth is terror.

¹⁵His back is made of⁴ rows of shields,

shut up closely as with a seal.

¹⁶One is so near to another

that no air can come between them.

¹⁷They are ^zjoined one to another;

they clasp each other and cannot be separated.

¹⁸His sneezings flash forth light,

and his eyes are like ^athe eyelids of the dawn.

¹⁹Out of his mouth go flaming torches;

sparks of fire leap forth.

²⁰Out of his nostrils comes forth smoke,

as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.

²¹His breath ^bkindles coals,

and a flame comes forth from his mouth.

²²In his neck abides strength,

and terror dances before him.

²³The folds of his flesh ^cstick together,

firmly cast on him and immovable.

²⁴His heart is hard as a stone,

hard as the lower millstone.

²⁵When he raises himself up, the mighty⁵ are afraid;

at the crashing they are beside themselves.

²⁶Though the sword reaches him, it does not avail,

nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin.

²⁷He counts iron as straw,

and bronze as rotten wood.

²⁸The arrow cannot make him flee;

for him, sling stones are turned to stubble.

²⁹Clubs are counted as stubble;

he laughs at the rattle of javelins.

³⁰His underparts are like sharp ^dpotsherds;

he spreads himself like ^ea threshing sledge on the mire.

³¹He makes the deep boil like a pot;

he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.

³²Behind him he leaves a shining wake;

one would think the deep to be white-haired.

^33fOn earth there is not his like,

a creature without fear.

³⁴He sees everything that is high;

he is king over all the ^gsons of pride.”

Job’s Confession and Repentance

42Then Job answered the Lord and said:

²“I know that you can ^hdo all things,

and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

³ⁱ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’

Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,

things ^jtoo wonderful for me, which I did not know.

⁴‘Hear, and I will speak;

^kI will question you, and you make it known to me.’

⁵I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,

but now my eye sees you;

⁶therefore I despise myself,

and repent¹ in ^ldust and ashes.”

The Lord Rebukes Job’s Friends

⁷After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz ^mthe Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. ⁸Now therefore take ⁿseven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and ^ooffer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall ^ppray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” ^9qSo Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the Lord had told them, and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.

The Lord Restores Job’s Fortunes

¹⁰And the Lord ^rrestored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job ^stwice as much as he had before. ¹¹Then came to him all his ^tbrothers and sisters and all who had ^tknown him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they ^ushowed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil² that the Lord had brought upon him. And each of them gave him ^va piece of money³ and ^wa ring of gold.

¹²And the Lord blessed ^xthe latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had ^y14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. ¹³He had also ^zseven sons and three daughters. ¹⁴And he called the name of the first daughter Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch. ¹⁵And in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters. And their father gave them an inheritance ^aamong their brothers. ¹⁶And after this Job lived 140 years, and ^bsaw his sons, and his sons’ sons, four generations. ¹⁷And Job died, an old man, and ^cfull of days.