Job 38–40

The Lord Answers Job

³⁸Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:^*

²“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?^*

³Gird up your loins like a man;

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

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

Tell me, if you have understanding.^*

⁵Who determined its measurements—surely you know!

Or who stretched the line upon it?

⁶On what were its bases sunk,

or who laid its cornerstone^*

⁷when the morning stars sang together

and all the heavenly beings^f shouted for joy?^*

⁸“Or who shut in the sea with doors

when it burst out from the womb,^*

⁹when I made the clouds its garment

and thick darkness its swaddling band,^*

¹⁰and prescribed bounds for it,

and set bars and doors,^*

¹¹and said, ‘Thus far shall you come and no farther,

and here shall your proud waves be stopped’?^*

¹²“Have you commanded the morning since your days began

and caused the dawn to know its place,^*

¹³so that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,

and the wicked be shaken out of it?^*

¹⁴It is changed like clay under the seal,

and it is dyed^g like a garment.

¹⁵Light is withheld from the wicked,

and their uplifted arm is broken.^*

¹⁶“Have you entered into the springs of the sea

or walked in the recesses of the deep?^*

¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed to you,

or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?^*

¹⁸Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?

Declare, if you know all this.^*

¹⁹“Where is the way to the dwelling of light,

and where is the place of darkness,

²⁰that you may take it to its territory

and that you may discern the paths to its home?^*

²¹Surely you know, for you were born then,

and the number of your days is great!^*

²²“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,

or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,^*

²³which I have reserved for the time of trouble,

for the day of battle and war?^*

²⁴What is the way to the place where the light is distributed

or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?^*

²⁵“Who has cut a channel for the torrents of rain

and a way for the thunderbolt,^*

²⁶to bring rain on a land where no one lives,

on the desert, which is empty of human life,^*

²⁷to satisfy the waste and desolate land,

and to make the ground put forth grass?^*

²⁸“Has the rain a father,

or who has fathered the drops of dew?^*

²⁹From whose womb did the ice come forth,

and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven?^*

³⁰The waters become hard like stone,

and the face of the deep is frozen.

³¹“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades

or loose the cords of Orion?^*

³²Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season,

or can you guide the Bear with its children?

³³Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?

Can you establish their rule on the earth?^*

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

so that a flood of waters may cover you?^*

³⁵Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go

and say to you, ‘Here we are’?^*

³⁶Who has put wisdom in the inward parts^h

or given understanding to the mind?^i*

³⁷Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?

Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens

³⁸when the dust runs into a mass

and the clods cling together?

³⁹“Can you hunt the prey for the lion

or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,^*

⁴⁰when they crouch in their dens

or lie in wait in their covert?^*

⁴¹Who provides for the raven its prey,

when its young ones cry to God

and wander about for lack of food?^*

³⁹“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?

Do you observe the calving of the deer?^*

²Can you number the months that they fulfill,

and do you know the time when they give birth,

³when they crouch to give birth to their offspring

and are delivered of their young?^*

⁴Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open;

they go forth and do not return to them.

⁵“Who has let the wild ass go free?

Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass,^*

⁶to which I have given the steppe for its home,

the salt land for its dwelling place?^*

⁷It scorns the tumult of the city;

it does not hear the shouts of the driver.

⁸It ranges the mountains as its pasture,

and it searches after every green thing.

⁹“Is the wild ox willing to serve you?

Will it spend the night at your crib?^*

¹⁰Can you tie it in the furrow with ropes,

or will it harrow the valleys after you?

¹¹Will you depend on it because its strength is great,

and will you hand over your labor to it?

¹²Do you have faith in it that it will return

and bring your grain to your threshing floor?^j

¹³“The ostrich’s wings flap wildly,

though its pinions lack plumage.^k

¹⁴For it leaves its eggs to the earth

and lets them be warmed on the ground,

¹⁵forgetting that a foot may crush them

and that a wild animal may trample them.

¹⁶It deals cruelly with its young, as if they were not its own;

though its labor should be in vain, yet it has no fear;^*

¹⁷because God has made it forget wisdom

and given it no share in understanding.^*

¹⁸When it spreads its plumes aloft,^l

it laughs at the horse and its rider.

¹⁹“Do you give the horse its might?

Do you clothe its neck with mane?^*

²⁰Do you make it leap like the locust?

Its majestic snorting is terrible.^*

²¹It paws^m violently, exults mightily;

it goes out to meet the weapons.^*

²²It laughs at fear and is not dismayed;

it does not turn back from the sword.

²³Upon it rattle the quiver,

the flashing spear, and the javelin.

²⁴With fierceness and rage it swallows the ground;

it cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.^*

²⁵When the trumpet sounds, it says ‘Aha!’

From a distance it smells the battle,

the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.^*

²⁶“Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars

and spreads its wings toward the south?

²⁷Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up

and makes its nest on high?^*

²⁸It lives on the rock and makes its home

in the fastness of the rocky crag.

²⁹From there it spies the prey;

its eyes see it from far away.^*

³⁰Its young ones suck up blood,

and where the slain are, there it is.”^*

⁴⁰And the Lord said to Job:

²“Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?ⁿ

Anyone who argues with God must respond.”^*

Job’s Response to God

³Then Job answered the Lord:

⁴“See, I am of small account; what shall I answer you?

I lay my hand on my mouth.^*

⁵I have spoken once, and I will not answer,

twice but will proceed no further.”^*

God’s Challenge to Job

⁶Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:^*

⁷“Gird up your loins like a man;

I will question you, and you declare to me.^*

⁸Will you even put me in the wrong?

Will you condemn me that you may be justified?^*

⁹Have you an arm like God,

and can you thunder with a voice like his?^*

¹⁰“Deck yourself with majesty and dignity;

clothe yourself with glory and splendor.^*

¹¹Pour out the overflowings of your anger,

and look on all who are proud and humble them.^*

¹²Look on all who are proud and bring them low;

tread down the wicked where they stand.^*

¹³Hide them all in the dust together;

bind their faces in the world below.^o

¹⁴Then I will also acknowledge to you

that your own right hand can give you victory.^*

¹⁵“Look at Behemoth,

which I made just as I made you;

it eats grass like an ox.^*

¹⁶Its strength is in its loins

and its power in the muscles of its belly.

¹⁷It makes its tail stiff like a cedar;

the sinews of its thighs are knit together.

¹⁸Its bones are tubes of bronze,

its limbs like bars of iron.

¹⁹“It is the first of the great acts of God;

only its Maker can approach it with the sword.^*

²⁰For the mountains yield food for it

where all the wild animals play.^*

²¹Under the lotus plants it lies,

in the covert of the reeds and in the marsh.

²²The lotus trees cover it for shade;

the willows of the wadi surround it.^*

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

it is confident though Jordan rushes against its mouth.

²⁴Can one take it with hooks^p

or pierce its nose with a snare?^*