Job 39–40

Chapter 39

The Lord’s Challenge Continues

¹“Do you know when the wild goats give birth?

Have you watched as deer are born in the wild?

²Do you know how many months they carry their young?

Are you aware of the time of their delivery?

³They crouch down to give birth to their young

and deliver their offspring.

⁴Their young grow up in the open fields,

then leave home and never return.

⁵“Who gives the wild donkey its freedom?

Who untied its ropes?

⁶I have placed it in the wilderness;

its home is the wasteland.

⁷It hates the noise of the city

and has no driver to shout at it.

⁸The mountains are its pastureland,

where it searches for every blade of grass.

⁹“Will the wild ox consent to being tamed?

Will it spend the night in your stall?

¹⁰Can you hitch a wild ox to a plow?

Will it plow a field for you?

¹¹Given its strength, can you trust it?

Can you leave and trust the ox to do your work?

¹²Can you rely on it to bring home your grain

and deliver it to your threshing floor?

¹³“The ostrich flaps her wings grandly,

but they are no match for the feathers of the stork.

¹⁴She lays her eggs on top of the earth,

letting them be warmed in the dust.

¹⁵She doesn’t worry that a foot might crush them

or a wild animal might destroy them.

¹⁶She is harsh toward her young,

as if they were not her own.

She doesn’t care if they die.

¹⁷For God has deprived her of wisdom.

He has given her no understanding.

¹⁸But whenever she jumps up to run,

she passes the swiftest horse with its rider.

¹⁹“Have you given the horse its strength

or clothed its neck with a flowing mane?

²⁰Did you give it the ability to leap like a locust?

Its majestic snorting is terrifying!

²¹It paws the earth and rejoices in its strength

when it charges out to battle.

²²It laughs at fear and is unafraid.

It does not run from the sword.

²³The arrows rattle against it,

and the spear and javelin flash.

²⁴It paws the ground fiercely

and rushes forward into battle when the ram’s horn blows.

²⁵It snorts at the sound of the horn.

It senses the battle in the distance.

It quivers at the captain’s commands and the noise of battle.

²⁶“Is it your wisdom that makes the hawk soar

and spread its wings toward the south?

²⁷Is it at your command that the eagle rises

to the heights to make its nest?

²⁸It lives on the cliffs,

making its home on a distant, rocky crag.

²⁹From there it hunts its prey,

keeping watch with piercing eyes.

³⁰Its young gulp down blood.

Where there’s a carcass, there you’ll find it.”

Chapter 40

Then the Lord said to Job,

²“Do you still want to argue with the Almighty?

You are God’s critic, but do you have the answers?”

Job Responds to the Lord

³Then Job replied to the Lord,

⁴“I am nothing—how could I ever find the answers?

I will cover my mouth with my hand.

⁵I have said too much already.

I have nothing more to say.”

The Lord Challenges Job Again

⁶Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:

⁷“Brace yourself like a man,

because I have some questions for you,

and you must answer them.

⁸“Will you discredit my justice

and condemn me just to prove you are right?

⁹Are you as strong as God?

Can you thunder with a voice like his?

¹⁰All right, put on your glory and splendor,

your honor and majesty.

¹¹Give vent to your anger.

Let it overflow against the proud.

¹²Humiliate the proud with a glance;

walk on the wicked where they stand.

¹³Bury them in the dust.

Imprison them in the world of the dead.

¹⁴Then even I would praise you,

for your own strength would save you.

¹⁵“Take a look at Behemoth,

which I made, just as I made you.

It eats grass like an ox.

¹⁶See its powerful loins

and the muscles of its belly.

¹⁷Its tail is as strong as a cedar.

The sinews of its thighs are knit tightly together.

¹⁸Its bones are tubes of bronze.

Its limbs are bars of iron.

¹⁹It is a prime example of God’s handiwork,

and only its Creator can threaten it.

²⁰The mountains offer it their best food,

where all the wild animals play.

²¹It lies under the lotus plants,

hidden by the reeds in the marsh.

²²The lotus plants give it shade

among the willows beside the stream.

²³It is not disturbed by the raging river,

not concerned when the swelling Jordan rushes around it.

²⁴No one can catch it off guard

or put a ring in its nose and lead it away.