Job 38–41

CHAPTER 38

Yahweh Answers Job

¹Then Yahweh ^aanswered Job out of the ¹whirlwind and said,

²“Who is this that ^adarkens counsel

By words without knowledge?

³“Now ^agird up your loins like a man,

And ^bI will ask you, and you make Me know!

⁴“Where were you ^awhen I laid the foundation of the earth?

Tell Me, if you know understanding,

⁵Who set its ^ameasurements? Since you know.

Or who stretched the line on it?

⁶“On what ^awere its bases sunk?

Or who laid its cornerstone,

⁷When the morning stars sang together

And all the ^asons of God shouted for joy?

⁸“Or who ^aenclosed the sea with doors

When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb,

⁹When I made a cloud its garment

And dense gloom its swaddling band,

¹⁰And I ^1aplaced boundaries on it

And set a bolt and doors,

¹¹And I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther;

And here shall your proud waves stop’?

Yahweh Answers Job, “Have You?”

¹²“Have you ¹ever in your life commanded the morning,

And caused the dawn to know its place,

¹³That it might seize ^athe ends of the earth,

And ^bthe wicked be shaken out of it?

¹⁴“It is changed like clay under the seal;

And they stand forth like clothing.

¹⁵“^aFrom the wicked their light is withheld,

And the arm ^braised high is broken.

¹⁶“Have you entered into ^athe springs of the sea

Or walked ¹in the recesses of the deep?

¹⁷“Have the gates of death been revealed to you,

Or have you seen the gates of the ^ashadow of death?

¹⁸“Have you carefully considered the ¹expanse of ^athe earth?

Tell Me, if you know all this.

¹⁹“Where is the way to where the light dwells?

And darkness, where is its place,

²⁰That you may take it to ^aits territory

And that you may discern the paths to its ¹home?

²¹“You know, for ^ayou were born then,

And the number of your days is great!

²²“Have you entered the storehouses ^aof the snow,

Or have you seen the storehouses of the ^bhail,

²³Which I have reserved for the time of distress,

For the day of war and battle?

²⁴“Where is the way that ^athe light is divided,

Or the east wind scattered on the earth?

²⁵“Who has cleft a conduit for the flood,

Or a way for the thunderbolt,

²⁶To bring ^arain on a land without ¹people,

On a desert without a man in it,

²⁷To ^asatisfy the waste and desolate land

And to make the growth of grass to sprout?

²⁸“Has ^athe rain a father?

Or who has begotten the drops of dew?

²⁹“From whose womb has come the ^aice?

And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth?

³⁰“Water ¹becomes hard like stone,

And the surface of the deep ²is interlocked.

³¹“Can you bind the chains of the ^aPleiades,

Or loose the cords of Orion?

³²“Can you lead forth a ¹constellation in its season,

And guide the Bear with her ²satellites?

³³“Do you know the ^astatutes of the heavens,

Or fix their rule over the earth?

³⁴“Can you raise your voice up to the clouds,

So that an ^aabundance of water will cover you?

³⁵“Can you ^asend forth lightnings that they may go

And say to you, ‘Here we are’?

³⁶“Who has ^agiven wisdom in the ¹innermost being

Or given ^bunderstanding to the ²mind?

³⁷“Who can count the clouds by wisdom,

Or ^atip the water jars of the heavens,

³⁸When the dust hardens into a mass

And the clods stick together?

Yahweh Answers Job, “Where Were You?”

³⁹“Can you hunt the ^aprey for the lion,

Or fulfill the appetite of the young lions,

⁴⁰When they ^acrouch in their dens

And lie in wait in their lair?

⁴¹“Who prepares for ^athe raven its provision

When its young cry for help to God

And wander about without food?

CHAPTER 39

¹“Do you know the time the ^1amountain goats give birth?

Do you keep watch over the calving of the ^bdeer?

²“Can you count the months they fulfill,

Or do you know the time they give birth?

³“They kneel down; they bring forth their young;

They send out their labor pains.

⁴“Their children become strong; they grow up in the open field;

They leave and do not return to them.

⁵“Who sent out the ^awild donkey free?

And who loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,

⁶For whom I have set ^athe desert plain as a home

And the salt land as his dwelling place?

⁷“He laughs at the tumult of the city;

The shoutings of the driver he does not hear.

⁸“He explores the mountains for his pasture

And searches after every green thing.

⁹“Will the ^awild ox consent to serve you,

Or will he spend the night at your manger?

¹⁰“Can you bind the wild ox in a furrow with ¹ropes,

Or will he harrow the valleys after you?

¹¹“Will you trust him because his power is great

And leave your labor to him?

¹²“Will you believe him that he will return your seed of grain

And gather it from your threshing floor?

¹³“The ostriches’ wings flap joyously

But are they the pinion and plumage of a ¹stork?

¹⁴For she leaves her eggs to the earth

And warms them in the dust,

¹⁵And she forgets that a foot may crush ¹them,

Or that a beast of the field may trample ²them.

¹⁶“She treats her children ^acruelly, as if they were not hers;

Though her labor be empty, she is without dread,

¹⁷Because God has made her forget wisdom,

And has not given her a share of understanding.

¹⁸“When she raises herself up high,

She laughs at the horse and his rider.

¹⁹“Do you give the horse his might?

Do you clothe his neck with a mane?

²⁰“Do you make him ^aleap like the locust?

His splendid ^bsnorting is terrible.

²¹“¹He paws in the valley and rejoices in his power;

He ^agoes out to meet the weapons.

²²“He laughs at dread and is not dismayed;

And he does not turn back from the sword.

²³“The quiver rattles against him,

The flashing spear and javelin.

²⁴“With shaking and rage he ¹races over the ground,

And he does not ²stand still at the sound of the trumpet.

²⁵“As often as the trumpet sounds he says, ‘Aha!’

And he scents the battle from afar,

And the thunder of the commanders and the shout of war.

²⁶“Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars,

Stretching his wings toward the south?

²⁷“Is it at your ¹command that the eagle goes on high

And raises ^ahis nest high?

²⁸“On the cliff he dwells and lodges,

Upon the rocky crag, a fortress.

²⁹“From there he ^1aspies out food;

His eyes see it from afar.

³⁰“His young ones also suck up blood;

And ^awhere the slain are, there is he.”

CHAPTER 40

Job Places His Hand Over His Mouth

¹Then Yahweh answered Job and said,

²“Will the faultfinder ^acontend with the Almighty?

Let him who ^breproves God answer it.”

³Then Job answered Yahweh and said,

⁴“Behold, I am insignificant; what can I respond to You?

I ^aplace my hand over my mouth.

⁵“Once I have spoken, and ^aI will not answer;

Even twice, and I will add nothing more.”

Yahweh Will Ask Job

⁶Then ^aYahweh answered Job out of the ¹whirlwind and said,

⁷“Now ^agird up your loins like a man;

I will ^bask you, and you make Me know.

⁸“Will you really ^aannul My judgment?

Will you ^bcondemn Me ^cthat you may be justified?

⁹“Or do you have an arm like God,

And can you ^athunder with a voice like His?

¹⁰“^aAdorn yourself with exaltation and loftiness,

And clothe yourself with splendor and majesty.

¹¹“Pour out ^athe overflowings of your anger,

And look on everyone who is ^bproud, and make him low.

¹²“Look on everyone who is proud, and ^ahumble him,

And ^btread down the wicked ¹in their place.

¹³“^aHide them in the dust together;

Bind their faces in the hidden place.

¹⁴“Then I will also praise you,

That your own right hand can save you.

Behold the Behemoth

¹⁵“Behold now, ¹Behemoth, which ^aI made along with you;

It eats grass like an ox.

¹⁶“Behold now, its power in its loins

And its vigor in the muscles of its belly.

¹⁷“It hangs its tail like a cedar;

The sinews of its thighs are knit together.

¹⁸“Its bones are tubes of bronze;

Its ¹limbs are like bars of iron.

¹⁹“It is the ^afirst of the ways of God;

Let its ^bMaker bring near its sword.

²⁰“Surely the mountains ^abring it food,

And all the beasts of the field ^bplay there.

²¹“Under the lotus plants it lies down,

In the hidden place of the reeds and the marsh.

²²“The lotus plants cover it with ¹shade;

The willows of the brook surround it.

²³“If a river oppresses, it is not alarmed;

It is secure, though the ^aJordan bursts forth to its mouth.

²⁴“Can anyone capture it before its eyes,

With snares can anyone pierce its nose?

CHAPTER 41

Can You Draw Out Leviathan?

¹“¹Can you draw out ^2aLeviathan with a fishhook?

Or press down its tongue with a cord?

²“Can you ^aput a ¹rope in its nose

Or pierce its jaw with a ²hook?

³“Will it make many supplications to you,

Or will he speak to you soft words?

⁴“Will it cut a covenant with you?

Will you take it for a slave forever?

⁵“Will you play with it as with a bird,

Or will you bind it for your young women?

⁶“Will the ¹traders bargain over it?

Will they divide it among the merchants?

⁷“Can you fill its skin with harpoons,

Or its head with fishing spears?

⁸“Place your hand on it;

Remember the battle; ¹you will not do that again!

⁹“¹Behold, ²his expectation is a lie;

Will ³he be laid low even at the sight of it?

¹⁰“No one is so fierce that he dares to ^aarouse it;

Who then is he that can stand before Me?

¹¹“Who has ^1agiven to Me that I should repay him?

Whatever is ^bunder the whole heaven is Mine.

¹²“I will not keep silence concerning its limbs,

Or its mighty strength or its graceful frame.

¹³“Who can ¹strip off its ²outer armor?

Who can come with its doubled ³bridle?

¹⁴“Who can open the doors of its face?

Around its teeth there is dreadful terror.

¹⁵“Its ¹strong scales are its pride,

Shut up as with a tight seal.

¹⁶“One is so near to another

That no air can come between them.

¹⁷“They cling one to another;

They are interlocked and cannot be separated.

¹⁸“Its sneezes flash forth light,

And its eyes are like the ^aeyelids of the morning.

¹⁹“Out of its mouth go burning torches;

Sparks of fire ¹leap forth.

²⁰“Out of its nostrils smoke goes forth

As from a boiling pot and burning reeds.

²¹“Its breath kindles coals,

And a flame goes forth from its mouth.

²²“In its neck lodges strength,

And dismay leaps before it.

²³“The folds of its flesh cling together,

Hardened upon it and is not shaken.

²⁴“Its heart is as hard as a stone,

Even as hard as a lower millstone.

²⁵“When it raises itself up, the ¹mighty fear,

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