¹² There was no further discussion, and everyone now listened as Barnabas and Paul told about the miracles God had done through them among the Gentiles.

¹³ When they had finished, James took the floor. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. ¹⁴ Peter has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people to bring honor to his name. ¹⁵ And this fact of Gentile conversion agrees with what the prophets predicted. For instance, listen to this passage from the prophet Amos:^[a]

¹⁶ ‘Afterwards’ (says the Lord),^[b] ‘I will return and renew the broken contract with David, ¹⁷ so that Gentiles, too, will find the Lord—all those marked with my name.’

40 The Lord went on:

² “Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? Or will you yield? Do you—God’s critic—have the answers?”

³ Then Job replied to God:

⁴ “I am nothing—how could I ever find the answers? I lay my hand upon my mouth in silence. ⁵ I have said too much already.”

⁶ Then the Lord spoke to Job again from the whirlwind:

⁷ “Stand up like a man and brace yourself for battle. Let me ask you a question, and give me the answer. ⁸ Are you going to discredit my justice and condemn me so that you can say you are right? ⁹ Are you as strong as God, and can you shout as loudly as he? ¹⁰ All right then, put on your robes of state, your majesty and splendor. ¹¹ Give vent to your anger. Let it overflow against the proud. ¹² Humiliate the haughty with a glance; tread down the wicked where they stand. ¹³ Knock them into the dust, stone-faced in death. ¹⁴ If you can do that, then I’ll agree with you that your own strength can save you.

¹⁵ “Take a look at the hippopotamus!^[a] I made him, too, just as I made you! He eats grass like an ox. ¹⁶ See his powerful loins and the muscles of his belly. ¹⁷ His tail is as straight as a cedar. The sinews of his thighs are tightly knit together. ¹⁸ His vertebrae lie straight as a tube of brass. His ribs are like iron bars. ¹⁹ How ferocious he is among all of God’s creation, so let whoever hopes to master him bring a sharp sword! ²⁰ The mountains offer their best food to him—the other wild animals on which he preys. ²¹ He lies down under the lotus plants, hidden by the reeds, ²² covered by their shade among the willows there beside the stream. ²³ He is not disturbed by raging rivers, not even when the swelling Jordan rushes down upon him. ²⁴ No one can catch him off guard or put a ring in his nose and lead him away.

41 “Can you catch a crocodile^[b] with a hook and line? Or put a noose around his tongue? ² Can you tie him with a rope through the nose, or pierce his jaw with a spike? ³ Will he beg you to desist or try to flatter you from your intentions? ⁴ Will he agree to let you make him your slave for life? ⁵ Can you make a pet of him like a bird, or give him to your little girls to play with? ⁶ Do fishing partners sell him to the fishmongers? ⁷ Will his hide be hurt by darts, or his head with a harpoon?

⁸ “If you lay your hands upon him, you will long remember the battle that ensues and you will never try it again! ⁹ No, it’s useless to try to capture him. It is frightening even to think about it! ¹⁰ No one dares to stir him up, let alone try to conquer him. And if no one can stand before him, who can stand before me? ¹¹ I owe no one anything. Everything under the heaven is mine.

¹² “I should mention, too, the tremendous strength in his limbs and throughout his enormous frame. ¹³ Who can penetrate his hide, or who dares come within reach of his jaws? ¹⁴ For his teeth are terrible. ^15-17 His overlapping scales are his pride, making a tight seal so no air can get between them, and nothing can penetrate.

¹⁸ “When he sneezes, the sunlight sparkles like lightning across the vapor droplets. His eyes glow like sparks. ¹⁹ Fire leaps from his mouth. ²⁰ Smoke flows from his nostrils, like steam from a boiling pot that is fired by dry rushes. ²¹ Yes, his breath would kindle coals—flames leap from his mouth.

²² “The tremendous strength in his neck strikes terror wherever he goes. ²³ His flesh is hard and firm, not soft and fat. ²⁴ His heart is hard as rock, just like a millstone. ²⁵ When he stands up, the strongest are afraid. Terror grips them. ²⁶ No sword can stop him, nor spear nor dart nor pointed shaft. ^27-28 Iron is nothing but straw to him, and brass is rotten wood. Arrows cannot make him flee. Sling stones are as ineffective as straw. ²⁹ Clubs do no good, and he laughs at the javelins hurled at him. ³⁰ His belly is covered with scales as sharp as shards; they tear up the ground as he drags through the mud.

^31-32 “He makes the water boil with his commotion. He churns the depths. He leaves a shining wake of froth behind him. One would think the sea was made of frost! ³³ There is nothing else so fearless anywhere on earth. ³⁴ Of all the beasts, he is the proudest—monarch of all that he sees.”