Job 39–41

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.

Chapter 41

The Lord’s Challenge Continues

¹“Can you catch Leviathan with a hook

or put a noose around its jaw?

²Can you tie it with a rope through the nose

or pierce its jaw with a spike?

³Will it beg you for mercy

or implore you for pity?

⁴Will it agree to work for you,

to be your slave for life?

⁵Can you make it a pet like a bird,

or give it to your little girls to play with?

⁶Will merchants try to buy it

to sell it in their shops?

⁷Will its hide be hurt by spears

or its head by a harpoon?

⁸If you lay a hand on it,

you will certainly remember the battle that follows.

You won’t try that again!

⁹ No, it is useless to try to capture it.

The hunter who attempts it will be knocked down.

¹⁰And since no one dares to disturb it,

who then can stand up to me?

¹¹Who has given me anything that I need to pay back?

Everything under heaven is mine.

¹²“I want to emphasize Leviathan’s limbs

and its enormous strength and graceful form.

¹³Who can strip off its hide,

and who can penetrate its double layer of armor?

¹⁴Who could pry open its jaws?

For its teeth are terrible!

¹⁵The scales on its back are like rows of shields

tightly sealed together.

¹⁶They are so close together

that no air can get between them.

¹⁷Each scale sticks tight to the next.

They interlock and cannot be penetrated.

¹⁸“When it sneezes, it flashes light!

Its eyes are like the red of dawn.

¹⁹Lightning leaps from its mouth;

flames of fire flash out.

²⁰Smoke streams from its nostrils

like steam from a pot heated over burning rushes.

²¹Its breath would kindle coals,

for flames shoot from its mouth.

²²“The tremendous strength in Leviathan’s neck

strikes terror wherever it goes.

²³Its flesh is hard and firm

and cannot be penetrated.

²⁴Its heart is hard as rock,

hard as a millstone.

²⁵When it rises, the mighty are afraid,

gripped by terror.

²⁶No sword can stop it,

no spear, dart, or javelin.

²⁷Iron is nothing but straw to that creature,

and bronze is like rotten wood.

²⁸Arrows cannot make it flee.

Stones shot from a sling are like bits of grass.

²⁹Clubs are like a blade of grass,

and it laughs at the swish of javelins.

³⁰Its belly is covered with scales as sharp as glass.

It plows up the ground as it drags through the mud.

³¹“Leviathan makes the water boil with its commotion.

It stirs the depths like a pot of ointment.

³²The water glistens in its wake,

making the sea look white.

³³Nothing on earth is its equal,

no other creature so fearless.

³⁴Of all the creatures, it is the proudest.

It is the king of beasts.”