Job 38–40

Chapter 38

¹Then 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 sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸“Or who shut in the sea with doors,

when it burst forth from the womb;

⁹when I made 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 stayed’?

¹²“Have you commanded the morning since your days began,

and caused the dawn to know its place,

¹³that 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 like a garment.

¹⁵From the wicked their light is withheld,

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?

²¹You 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 cleft a channel for the torrents of rain,

and a way for the thunderbolt,

²⁶to bring rain on a land where no man is,

on the desert in which there is no man;

²⁷to satisfy the waste and desolate land,

and to make the ground put forth grass?

²⁸“Has the rain a father,

or who has begotten 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,

that a flood of waters may cover you?

³⁵Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go

and say to you, ‘Here we are’?

³⁶Who has put wisdom in the clouds,

or given understanding to the mists?

³⁷Who can number the clouds by wisdom?

Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,

³⁸when the dust runs into a mass

and the clods cleave fast 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?

Chapter 39

¹“Do you know when the mountain goats bring forth?

Do you observe the calving of the hinds?

²Can you number the months that they fulfil,

and do you know the time when they bring forth,

³when they crouch, bring forth 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 whom I have given the steppe for his home,

and the salt land for his dwelling place?

⁷He scorns the tumult of the city;

he hears not the shouts of the driver.

⁸He ranges the mountains as his pasture,

and he searches after every green thing.

⁹“Is the wild ox willing to serve you?

Will he spend the night at your crib?

¹⁰Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes,

or will he harrow the valleys after you?

¹¹Will you depend on him because his strength is great,

and will you leave to him your labor?

¹²Do you have faith in him that he will return,

and bring your grain to your threshing floor?

¹³“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly;

but are they the pinions and plumage of love?

¹⁴For she leaves her eggs to the earth,

and lets them be warmed on the ground,

¹⁵forgetting that a foot may crush them,

and that the wild beast may trample them.

¹⁶She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers;

though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear;

¹⁷because God has made her forget wisdom,

and given her no share in understanding.

¹⁸When she rouses herself to flee,

she laughs at the horse and his rider.

¹⁹“Do you give the horse his might?

Do you clothe his neck with strength?

²⁰Do you make him leap like the locust?

His majestic snorting is terrible.

²¹He paws in the valley, and exults in his strength;

he goes out to meet the weapons.

²²He laughs at fear, and is not dismayed;

he does not turn back from the sword.

²³Upon him rattle the quiver,

the flashing spear and the javelin.

²⁴With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground;

he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.

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

He smells the battle from afar,

the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

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

and spreads his wings toward the south?

²⁷Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up

and makes his nest on high?

²⁸On the rock he dwells and makes his home

in the fastness of the rocky crag.

²⁹Thence he spies out the prey;

his eyes behold it afar off.

³⁰His young ones suck up blood;

and where the slain are, there is he.”

Chapter 40

¹And the Lord said to Job:

²“Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?

He who argues with God, let him answer it.”

³Then Job answered the Lord:

⁴“Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer thee?

I lay my hand on my mouth.

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

twice, but I will proceed no further.”

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 forth the overflowings of your anger,

and look on every one that is proud, and abase him.

¹²Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low;

and tread down the wicked where they stand.

¹³Hide them all in the dust together;

bind their faces in the world below.

¹⁴Then will I also acknowledge to you,

that your own right hand can give you victory.

¹⁵“Behold, Behemoth,

which I made as I made you;

he eats grass like an ox.

¹⁶Behold, his strength in his loins,

and his power in the muscles of his belly.

¹⁷He makes his tail stiff like a cedar;

the sinews of his thighs are knit together.

¹⁸His bones are tubes of bronze,

his limbs like bars of iron.

¹⁹“He is the first of the works of God;

let him who made him bring near his sword!

²⁰For the mountains yield food for him

where all the wild beasts play.

²¹Under the lotus plants he lies,

in the covert of the reeds and in the marsh.

²²For his shade the lotus trees cover him;

the willows of the brook surround him.

²³Behold, if the river is turbulent he is not frightened;

he is confident though Jordan rushes against his mouth.

²⁴Can one take him with hooks,

or pierce his nose with a snare?