Job 26
New Living Translation
Job’s Ninth Speech: A Response to Bildad
26 Then Job spoke again:
2 “How you have helped the powerless!
How you have saved the weak!
3 How you have enlightened my stupidity!
What wise advice you have offered!
4 Where have you gotten all these wise sayings?
Whose spirit speaks through you?
5 “The dead tremble—
those who live beneath the waters.
6 The underworld[a] is naked in God’s presence.
The place of destruction[b] is uncovered.
7 God stretches the northern sky over empty space
and hangs the earth on nothing.
8 He wraps the rain in his thick clouds,
and the clouds don’t burst with the weight.
9 He covers the face of the moon,[c]
shrouding it with his clouds.
10 He created the horizon when he separated the waters;
he set the boundary between day and night.
11 The foundations of heaven tremble;
they shudder at his rebuke.
12 By his power the sea grew calm.
By his skill he crushed the great sea monster.[d]
13 His Spirit made the heavens beautiful,
and his power pierced the gliding serpent.
14 These are just the beginning of all that he does,
merely a whisper of his power.
Who, then, can comprehend the thunder of his power?”
Job 26
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Job Replies: God’s Majesty Is Unsearchable
26 Then Job answered:
2 “How you have helped one who has no power!
How you have assisted the arm that has no strength!(A)
3 How you have counseled one who has no wisdom
and given much good advice!
4 With whose help have you uttered words,
and whose spirit has come forth from you?
5 The shades below tremble,
the waters and their inhabitants.
6 Sheol is naked before God,
and Abaddon has no covering.(B)
7 He stretches out Zaphon[a] over the void
and hangs the earth upon nothing.(C)
8 He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,
and the cloud is not torn open by them.(D)
9 He covers the face of the full moon
and spreads over it his cloud.(E)
10 He has described a circle on the face of the waters,
at the boundary between light and darkness.(F)
11 The pillars of heaven tremble
and are astounded at his rebuke.
12 By his power he stilled the Sea;
by his understanding he struck down Rahab.(G)
13 By his wind the heavens were made fair;
his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.(H)
14 These are indeed but the outskirts of his ways,
and how small a whisper do we hear of him!
But the thunder of his power who can understand?”(I)
Footnotes
- 26.7 Or the North
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.