Job 40:6–41:9

Yahweh Challenges Job Again

⁶Then^d Yahweh answered Job from the storm, and he said,

⁷“Prepare yourself for a difficult task like a man,^e

and I will question you, and you shall declare to me.

Yahweh Interrogates Job Again

⁸“Indeed, would you annul my justice?

Would you condemn me, so that you might be righteous?

⁹Or do you have an arm like God,

and can you thunder with a voice like his?

¹⁰Adorn^f yourself with pride and dignity,

and clothe yourself with splendor.

¹¹Pour out the overflowing of your anger,

and look at all the proud, and humble them.

¹²Look at all the proud, humble them,

and tread down the wicked where they stand.^g

¹³Hide them in the dust together;

bind their faces in the grave.

¹⁴And I will also praise you,

that your own right hand can save you.

¹⁵“Look, Behemoth,^h which I have made just as I made you;

it eats grass like the ox.

¹⁶Look, its strength is in its loins

and its power in the muscles of its stomach.

¹⁷It keeps its tail straight like a cedar;

the sinews of its thighs are tightly wound.

¹⁸Its bones are tubes of copper,

its limbs like rods of iron.

¹⁹“It is the first of God’s actions;

the one who made him furnishes it with his sword.ⁱ

²⁰Yes, the mountains yield produce for it,

and all wild animals^j play there.

²¹Under the lotus tree it lies,

in the hiding place of the reeds and in the marsh.

²²The lotus trees cover it with their shade;

the wadi’s^k poplar trees surround it.

²³Look, if the river is turbulent, it is not frightened;

it is confident even though the Jordan rushes against its mouth.

²⁴Can anyone take it by its eyes?

Can he pierce its nose with a snare?

41^a “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook?

Or^b can you tie down its mouth with a cord?^c

²Can you put a rope in its nose?

Or^d can you pierce its jawbone with a hook?

³Will it make numerous pleas for mercy to you?

Or will it speak gentle words to you?

⁴Will it make a covenant with you?

Will you take it as a slave forever?

⁵Will you play with it as with birds

and put it on a leash for your girls?

⁶Will guildsmen bargain over it?

Will they divide it between tradesmen?

⁷Can you fill its skin with harpoons

or^e its head with fish spears?

⁸Lay your hands on it;

think about the battle—you will not do it again!

⁹“Look, the hope of capturing it^f is false.

Will one be hurled down even at its sight?