Job 40-42 (Amplified Bible)

Job 40

 ¹MOREOVER, THE Lord said to Job,

    ²Shall he who would find fault with the Almighty contend with Him? He who disputes with God, let him answer it.

    ³Then Job replied to the Lord:

    ⁴Behold, I am of small account and vile! What shall I answer You? I lay my hand upon my mouth.^(A)

    ⁵I have spoken once, but I will not reply again--indeed, twice [have I answered], but I will proceed no further.

    ⁶Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, saying,

    ⁷Gird up your loins now like a man; I will demand of you, and you answer Me.

    ⁸Will you also annul (set aside and render void) My judgment? Will you condemn Me [your God], that you may [appear] righteous and justified?

    ⁹Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His?

    ¹⁰[Since you question the manner of the Almighty's rule] deck yourself now with the excellency and dignity [of the Supreme Ruler, and yourself undertake the government of the world if you are so wise], and array yourself with honor and majesty.

    ¹¹Pour forth the overflowings of your anger, and look on everyone who is proud and abase him;

    ¹²Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low, and tread down the wicked where they stand [if you are so able, Job].

    ¹³[Bury and] hide them all in the dust together; [and] shut them up [in the prison house of death].

    ¹⁴[If you can do all this, Job, proving yourself of divine might] then will I [God] praise you also [and acknowledge that] your own right hand can save you.

    ¹⁵Behold now the behemoth (the hippopotamus), which I created as I did you; he eats grass like an ox.

    ¹⁶See now, his strength is in his loins, and his power is in the sinews of his belly.

    ¹⁷He moves his tail like a cedar tree; the tendons of his thighs are twisted together [like a rope].

    ¹⁸His bones are like tubes of bronze; his limbs [or ribs] are like bars of iron.

    ¹⁹[The hippopotamus] is the first [in magnitude and power] of the works of God [in animal life]; [only] He Who made him provides him with his [swordlike tusks, or only God Who made him can bring near His sword to master him].

    ²⁰Surely the mountains bring him food, where all the wild animals play.

    ²¹He lies under the lotus trees, in the covert of the reeds in the marsh.

    ²²The lotus trees cover him with their shade; the willows of the brook compass him about.

    ²³Behold, if a river is violent and overflows, he does not tremble; he is confident, though the Jordan [River] swells and rushes against his mouth.

    ²⁴Can any take him when he is on the watch, or pierce through his nose with a snare?

   

Job 41

 ¹CAN YOU draw out the leviathan (the crocodile) with a fishhook? Or press down his tongue with a cord?

    ²Can you put a rope into his nose? Or pierce his jaw through with a hook or a spike?

    ³Will he make many supplications to you [begging to be spared]? Will he speak soft words to you [to coax you to treat him kindly]?

    ⁴Will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant forever?

    ⁵Will you play with [the crocodile] as with a bird? Or will you put him on a leash for your maidens?

    ⁶Will traders bargain over him? Will they divide him up among the merchants?

    ⁷Can you fill his skin with harpoons? Or his head with fishing spears?

    ⁸Lay your hand upon him! Remember your battle with him; you will not do [such an ill-advised thing] again!

    ⁹Behold, the hope of [his assailant] is disappointed; one is cast down even at the sight of him!

    ¹⁰No one is so fierce [and foolhardy] that he dares to stir up [the crocodile]; who then is he who can stand before Me [the beast's Creator, or dares to contend with Me]?

    ¹¹Who has first given to Me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heavens is Mine. [Therefore, who can have a claim against God, God Who made the unmastered crocodile?]^(B)

    ¹²I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, nor his mighty strength, nor his goodly frame.

    ¹³Who can strip off [the crocodile's] outer garment? [Who can penetrate his double coat of mail?] Who shall come within his jaws?

    ¹⁴Who can open the doors of his [lipless] mouth? His [extended jaws and bare] teeth are terrible round about.

    ¹⁵His scales are [the crocodile's] pride, [for his back is made of rows of shields] shut up together [as with] a tight seal;

    ¹⁶One is so near to another that no air can come between them.

    ¹⁷They are joined one to another; they stick together so that they cannot be separated.

    ¹⁸His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the [reddish] eyelids of the dawn.

    ¹⁹Out of his mouth go burning torches, [and] sparks of fire leap out.

    ²⁰Out of his nostrils goes forth smoke, as out of a seething pot over a fire of rushes.

    ²¹His breath kindles coals, and a flame goes forth from his mouth.

    ²²In [the crocodile's] neck abides strength, and terror dances before him.

    ²³The folds of his flesh cleave together; they are firm upon him, and they cannot shake [when he moves].

    ²⁴His heart is as firm as a stone, indeed, as solid as a nether millstone.

    ²⁵When [the crocodile] raises himself up, the mighty are afraid; because of terror and the crashing they are beside themselves.

    ²⁶Even if one strikes at him with the sword, it cannot get any hold, nor does the spear, the dart, or the javelin.

    ²⁷He counts iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood.

    ²⁸The arrow cannot make [the crocodile] flee; slingstones are treated by him as stubble.

    ²⁹Clubs [also] are counted as stubble; he laughs at the rushing and the rattling of the javelin.

    ³⁰His underparts are like sharp pieces of broken pottery; he spreads [grooves like] a threshing sledge upon the mire.

    ³¹He makes the deep boil like a pot; he makes the sea like a [foaming] pot of ointment.

    ³²[His swift darting] makes a shining track behind him; one would think the deep to be hoary [with foam].

    ³³Upon earth there is not [the crocodile's] equal, a creature made without fear and he behaves fearlessly.

    ³⁴He looks all mighty [beasts of prey] in the face [without terror]; he is monarch over all the sons of pride. [And now, Job, ^[a]who are you who dares not arouse the unmastered crocodile, yet who dares resist Me, the beast's Creator, to My face? Everything under the heavens is Mine; therefore, who can have a claim against God?]

   

Job 42

 ¹THEN JOB said to the Lord,

    ²I know that You can do all things, and that no thought or purpose of Yours can be restrained or thwarted.

    ³[You said to me] Who is this that darkens and obscures counsel [by words] without knowledge? Therefore [I now see] I have [rashly] uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.^(C)

    ⁴[I had virtually said to You what You have said to me:] Hear, I beseech You, and I will speak; I will demand of You, and You declare to me.

    ⁵I had heard of You [only] by the hearing of the ear, but now my [spiritual] eye sees You.

    ⁶Therefore I loathe [my words] and abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.

    ⁷After the Lord had spoken the previous words to Job, the Lord 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 seven bullocks 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 [his prayer] that I deal not with you after your folly, in that 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 as the Lord commanded them; and the Lord accepted [Job's prayer].

    ¹⁰And the Lord turned the captivity of Job and restored his fortunes, when he prayed for his friends; also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.^(D)

    ¹¹Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they sympathized with him and comforted him over all the [distressing] calamities that the Lord had brought upon him. Every man also gave him a piece of money, and every man an earring of gold.

    ¹²And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.^(E)

    ¹³He had also seven sons and three daughters.

    ¹⁴And he called the name of the first Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch.

    ¹⁵And in all the land there were no women so fair as the daughters of Job, and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers.

    ¹⁶After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his sons' sons, even to four generations.

    ¹⁷So Job died, an old man and full of days.^(F)