38

1Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind,

2“Who is this who darkens counsel

by words without knowledge?

3Brace yourself like a man,

for I will question you, then you answer me!

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

Declare, if you have understanding.

5Who determined its measures, if you know?

Or who stretched the line on it?

6What were its foundations fastened on?

Or who laid its cornerstone,

7when the morning stars sang together,

and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8“Or who shut up the sea with doors,

when it broke out of the womb,

9when I made clouds its garment,

and wrapped it in thick darkness,

10marked out for it my bound,

set bars and doors,

11and said, ‘You may come here, but no further.

Your proud waves shall be stopped here’?

12“Have you commanded the morning in your days,

and caused the dawn to know its place,

13that it might take hold of the ends of the earth,

and shake the wicked out of it?

14It is changed as clay under the seal,

and presented as a garment.

15From the wicked, their light is withheld.

The high arm is broken.

16“Have you entered into the springs of the sea?

Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?

17Have the gates of death been revealed to you?

Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

18Have you comprehended the earth in its width?

Declare, if you know it all.

19“What is the way to the dwelling of light?

As for darkness, where is its place,

20that you should take it to its bound,

that you should discern the paths to its house?

21Surely you know, for you were born then,

and the number of your days is great!

22Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,

or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

23which I have reserved against the time of trouble,

against the day of battle and war?

24By what way is the lightning distributed,

or the east wind scattered on the earth?

25Who has cut a channel for the flood water,

or the path for the thunderstorm,

26to cause it to rain on a land where there is no man,

on the wilderness, in which there is no man,

27to satisfy the waste and desolate ground,

to cause the tender grass to grow?

28Does the rain have a father?

Or who fathers the drops of dew?

29Whose womb did the ice come out of?

Who has given birth to the gray frost of the sky?

30The waters become hard like stone,

when the surface of the deep is frozen.

31“Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades,

or loosen the cords of Orion?

32Can you lead the constellations out in their season?

Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs?

33Do you know the laws of the heavens?

Can you establish its dominion over the earth?

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

that abundance of waters may cover you?

35Can you send out lightnings, that they may go?

Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?

36Who has put wisdom in the inward parts?

Or who has given understanding to the mind?

37Who can count the clouds by wisdom?

Or who can pour out the containers of the sky,

38when the dust runs into a mass,

and the clods of earth stick together?

39“Can you hunt the prey for the lioness,

or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

40when they crouch in their dens,

and lie in wait in the thicket?

41Who provides for the raven his prey,

when his young ones cry to God,

and wander for lack of food?

39

1“Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth?

Do you watch when the doe bears fawns?

2Can you count the months that they fulfill?

Or do you know the time when they give birth?

3They bow themselves. They bear their young.

They end their labor pains.

4Their young ones become strong.

They grow up in the open field.

They go out, and don’t return again.

5“Who has set the wild donkey free?

Or who has loosened the bonds of the swift donkey,

6whose home I have made the wilderness,

and the salt land his dwelling place?

7He scorns the tumult of the city,

neither does he hear the shouting of the driver.

8The range of the mountains is his pasture.

He searches after every green thing.

9“Will the wild ox be content to serve you?

Or will he stay by your feeding trough?

10Can you hold the wild ox in the furrow with his harness?

Or will he till the valleys after you?

11Will you trust him, because his strength is great?

Or will you leave to him your labor?

12Will you confide in him, that he will bring home your seed,

and gather the grain of your threshing floor?

13“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly,

but are they the feathers and plumage of love?

14For she leaves her eggs on the earth,

warms them in the dust,

15and forgets that the foot may crush them,

or that the wild animal may trample them.

16She deals harshly with her young ones, as if they were not hers.

Though her labor is in vain, she is without fear,

17because God has deprived her of wisdom,

neither has he imparted to her understanding.

18When she lifts up herself on high,

she scorns the horse and his rider.

19“Have you given the horse might?

Have you clothed his neck with a quivering mane?

20Have you made him to leap as a locust?

The glory of his snorting is awesome.

21He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength.

He goes out to meet the armed men.

22He mocks at fear, and is not dismayed,

neither does he turn back from the sword.

23The quiver rattles against him,

the flashing spear and the javelin.

24He eats up the ground with fierceness and rage,

neither does he stand still at the sound of the trumpet.

25As often as the trumpet sounds he snorts, ‘Aha!’

He smells the battle afar off,

the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

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

and stretches her wings toward the south?

27Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up,

and makes his nest on high?

28On the cliff he dwells and makes his home,

on the point of the cliff and the stronghold.

29From there he spies out the prey.

His eyes see it afar off.

30His young ones also suck up blood.

Where the slain are, there he is.”

40

1Moreover Yahweh answered Job,

2“Shall he who argues contend with the Almighty?

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

3Then Job answered Yahweh,

4“Behold, I am of small account. What will I answer you?

I lay my hand on my mouth.

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

Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.”

6Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind:

7“Now brace yourself like a man.

I will question you, and you will answer me.

8Will you even annul my judgment?

Will you condemn me, that you may be justified?

9Or do you have an arm like God?

Can you thunder with a voice like him?

10“Now deck yourself with excellency and dignity.

Array yourself with honor and majesty.

11Pour out the fury of your anger.

Look at everyone who is proud, and bring him low.

12Look at everyone who is proud, and humble him.

Crush the wicked in their place.

13Hide them in the dust together.

Bind their faces in the hidden place.

14Then I will also admit to you

that your own right hand can save you.

15“See now behemoth, which I made as well as you.

He eats grass as an ox.

16Look now, his strength is in his thighs.

His force is in the muscles of his belly.

17He moves his tail like a cedar.

The sinews of his thighs are knit together.

18His bones are like tubes of bronze.

His limbs are like bars of iron.

19He is the chief of the ways of God.

He who made him gives him his sword.

20Surely the mountains produce food for him,

where all the animals of the field play.

21He lies under the lotus trees,

in the covert of the reed, and the marsh.

22The lotuses cover him with their shade.

The willows of the brook surround him.

23Behold, if a river overflows, he doesn’t tremble.

He is confident, though the Jordan swells even to his mouth.

24Shall any take him when he is on the watch,

or pierce through his nose with a snare?

41

1“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook,

or press down his tongue with a cord?

2Can you put a rope into his nose,

or pierce his jaw through with a hook?

3Will he make many petitions to you,

or will he speak soft words to you?

4Will he make a covenant with you,

that you should take him for a servant forever?

5Will you play with him as with a bird?

Or will you bind him for your girls?

6Will traders barter for him?

Will they part him among the merchants?

7Can you fill his skin with barbed irons,

or his head with fish spears?

8Lay your hand on him.

Remember the battle, and do so no more.

9Behold, the hope of him is in vain.

Won’t one be cast down even at the sight of him?

10None is so fierce that he dare stir him up.

Who then is he who can stand before me?

11Who has first given to me, that I should repay him?

Everything under the heavens is mine.

12“I will not keep silence concerning his limbs,

nor his mighty strength, nor his goodly frame.

13Who can strip off his outer garment?

Who will come within his jaws?

14Who can open the doors of his face?

Around his teeth is terror.

15Strong scales are his pride,

shut up together with a close seal.

16One is so near to another,

that no air can come between them.

17They are joined to one another.

They stick together, so that they can’t be pulled apart.

18His sneezing flashes out light.

His eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

19Out of his mouth go burning torches.

Sparks of fire leap out.

20Out of his nostrils a smoke goes,

as of a boiling pot over a fire of reeds.

21His breath kindles coals.

A flame goes out of his mouth.

22There is strength in his neck.

Terror dances before him.

23The flakes of his flesh are joined together.

They are firm on him.

They can’t be moved.

24His heart is as firm as a stone,

yes, firm as the lower millstone.

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

They retreat before his thrashing.

26If one attacks him with the sword, it can’t prevail;

nor the spear, the dart, nor the pointed shaft.

27He counts iron as straw,

and bronze as rotten wood.

28The arrow can’t make him flee.

Sling stones are like chaff to him.

29Clubs are counted as stubble.

He laughs at the rushing of the javelin.

30His undersides are like sharp potsherds,

leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.

31He makes the deep to boil like a pot.

He makes the sea like a pot of ointment.

32He makes a path shine after him.

One would think the deep had white hair.

33On earth there is not his equal,

that is made without fear.

34He sees everything that is high.

He is king over all the sons of pride.”

42

1Then Job answered Yahweh:

2“I know that you can do all things,

and that no purpose of yours can be restrained.

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

therefore I have uttered that which I didn’t understand,

things too wonderful for me, which I didn’t know.

4You said, ‘Listen, now, and I will speak;

I will question you, and you will answer me.’

5I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,

but now my eye sees you.

6Therefore I abhor myself,

and repent in dust and ashes.”

7It was so, that after Yahweh had spoken these words to Job, Yahweh said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has. 8Now therefore, take to yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept him, that I not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.”

9So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what Yahweh commanded them, and Yahweh accepted Job.

10Yahweh restored Job’s prosperity when he prayed for his friends. Yahweh gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been of his acquaintance before, came to him and ate bread with him in his house. They comforted him, and consoled him concerning all the evil that Yahweh had brought on him. Everyone also gave him a piece of money, and everyone a ring of gold.

12So Yahweh blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys. 13He had also seven sons and three daughters. 14He called the name of the first, Jemimah; and the name of the second, Keziah; and the name of the third, Keren Happuch. 15In all the land were no women found so beautiful as the daughters of Job. Their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. 16After this Job lived one hundred forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, to four generations. 17So Job died, being old and full of days.