God’s Challenge to Job

6 fThen the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:

7 “Now g 1prepare yourself like a man;

hI will question you, and you shall answer Me:

8 “Would iyou indeed 2annul My judgment?

Would you condemn Me that you may be justified?

9 Have you an arm like God?

Or can you thunder with ja voice like His?

10 kThen adorn yourself with majesty and splendor,

And array yourself with glory and beauty.

11 Disperse the rage of your wrath;

Look on everyone who is proud, and humble him.

12 Look on everyone who is lproud, and bring him low;

Tread down the wicked in their place.

13 Hide them in the dust together,

Bind their faces in hidden darkness.

14 Then I will also confess to you

That your own right hand can save you.

15 “Look now at the 3behemoth, which I made along with you;

He eats grass like an ox.

16 See now, his strength is in his hips,

And his power is in his stomach muscles.

17 He moves his tail like a cedar;

The sinews of his thighs are tightly knit.

18 His bones are like beams of bronze,

His ribs like bars of iron.

19 He is the first of the mways of God;

Only He who made him can bring near His sword.

20 Surely the mountains nyield food for him,

And all the beasts of the field play there.

21 He lies under the lotus trees,

In a covert of reeds and marsh.

22 The lotus trees cover him with their shade;

The willows by the brook surround him.

23 Indeed the river may rage,

Yet he is not disturbed;

He is confident, though the Jordan gushes into his mouth,

24 Though he takes it in his eyes,

Or one pierces his nose with a snare.

41 “Can you draw out aLeviathan 1with a hook,

Or snare his tongue with a line which you lower?

2 Can you bput a reed through his nose,

Or pierce his jaw with a 2hook?

3 Will he make many supplications to you?

Will he speak softly to you?

4 Will he make a covenant with you?

Will you take him as a servant forever?

5 Will you play with him as with a bird,

Or will you leash him for your maidens?

6 Will your companions 3make a banquet of him?

Will they apportion him among the merchants?

7 Can you fill his skin with harpoons,

Or his head with fishing spears?

8 Lay your hand on him;

Remember the battle—

Never do it again!

9 Indeed, any hope of overcoming him is false;

Shall one not be overwhelmed at the sight of him?

10 No one is so fierce that he would dare stir him up.

Who then is able to stand against Me?

11 cWho has preceded Me, that I should pay him?

dEverything under heaven is Mine.

12 “I will not 4conceal his limbs,

His mighty power, or his graceful proportions.

13 Who can 5remove his outer coat?

Who can approach him with a double bridle?

14 Who can open the doors of his face,

With his terrible teeth all around?

15 His rows of 6scales are his pride,

Shut up tightly as with a seal;

16 One is so near another

That no air can come between them;

17 They are joined one to another,

They stick together and cannot be parted.

18 His sneezings flash forth light,

And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

19 Out of his mouth go burning lights;

Sparks of fire shoot out.

20 Smoke goes out of his nostrils,

As from a boiling pot and burning rushes.

21 His breath kindles coals,

And a flame goes out of his mouth.

22 Strength dwells in his neck,

And 7sorrow dances before him.

23 The folds of his flesh are joined together;

They are firm on him and cannot be moved.

24 His heart is as hard as stone,

Even as hard as the lower millstone.

25 When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid;

Because of his crashings they 8are beside themselves.

26 Though the sword reaches him, it cannot avail;

Nor does spear, dart, or javelin.

27 He regards iron as straw,

And bronze as rotten wood.

28 The arrow cannot make him flee;

Slingstones become like stubble to him.

29 Darts are regarded as straw;

He laughs at the threat of javelins.

30 His undersides are like sharp potsherds;

He spreads pointed marks in the mire.

31 He makes the deep boil like a pot;

He makes the sea like a pot of ointment.

32 He leaves a shining wake behind him;

One would think the deep had white hair.

33 On earth there is nothing like him,

Which is made without fear.

34 He beholds every high thing;

He is king over all the children of pride.”

Job’s Repentance and Restoration

42 Then Job answered the Lord and said:

2 “I know that You acan do everything,

And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.

3 You asked, b‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’

Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,

cThings too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

4 Listen, please, and let me speak;

You said, d‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’

5 “I have eheard of You by the hearing of the ear,

But now my eye sees You.

6 Therefore I fabhor 1myself,

And repent in dust and ashes.”

7 And so it was, after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has. 8 Now therefore, take for yourselves gseven bulls and seven rams, hgo to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job shall ipray for you. For I will accept 2him, lest I deal with you according to your folly; because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.”

9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord commanded them; for the Lord had 3accepted Job. 10 jAnd the Lord 4restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job ktwice as much as he had before. 11 Then lall his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before, came to him and ate food with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity that the Lord had brought upon him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and each a ring of gold.

12 Now the Lord blessed mthe latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had nfourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. 13 oHe also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 And he called the name of the first 5Jemimah, the name of the second 6Keziah, and the name of the third 7Keren-Happuch. 15 In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.

16 After this Job plived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. 17 So Job died, old and qfull of days.