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40 Then[a] Yahweh answered Job and said,

“Shall a faultfinder contend with Shaddai?
Anyone who argues with God must answer it.”

Job Responds to Yahweh

So Job answered Yahweh and said,
“Look, I am insignificant.
What shall I answer you?
I lay my hand on my mouth.
Once I have spoken, and I will not answer;
even[b] twice, but[c] I will not proceed.”

Yahweh Challenges Job Again

Then[d] Yahweh answered Job from the storm, and he said,
Prepare yourself for a difficult task like a man,[e]
and I will question you, and you shall declare to me.

Yahweh Interrogates Job Again

“Indeed, would you annul my justice?
Would you condemn me, so that you might be righteous?
Or do you have an arm like God,
and can you thunder with a voice like his?
10 Adorn[f] yourself with pride and dignity,
and clothe yourself with splendor.
11 Pour out the overflowing of your anger,
and look at all the proud, and humble them.
12 Look at all the proud, humble them,
and tread down the wicked where they stand.[g]
13 Hide them in the dust together;
bind their faces in the grave.
14 And I will also praise you,
that your own right hand can save you.
15 “Look, Behemoth,[h] which I have made just as I made you;
it eats grass like the ox.
16 Look, its strength is in its loins
and its power in the muscles of its stomach.
17 It keeps its tail straight like a cedar;
the sinews of its thighs are tightly wound.
18 Its bones are tubes of copper,
its limbs like rods of iron.
19 “It is the first of God’s actions;
the one who made him furnishes it with his sword.[i]
20 Yes, the mountains yield produce for it,
and all wild animals[j] play there.
21 Under the lotus tree it lies,
in the hiding place of the reeds and in the marsh.
22 The lotus trees cover it with their shade;
the wadi’s[k] poplar trees surround it.
23 Look, if the river is turbulent, it is not frightened;
it is confident even though the Jordan rushes against its mouth.
24 Can anyone take it by its eyes?
Can he pierce its nose with a snare?

Footnotes

  1. Job 40:1 Hebrew “And”
  2. Job 40:5 Hebrew “And”
  3. Job 40:5 Or “and”
  4. Job 40:6 Or “And”
  5. Job 40:7 Literally “Gird up like a man your loins”
  6. Job 40:10 The particle sometimes translated “please” is present, but an almighty God or sovereign king does not say “please” when commanding his subjects
  7. Job 40:12 Literally “in place of them”
  8. Job 40:15 Some interpret as a hippopotamus
  9. Job 40:19 See NET; nearly all other English translations: “Only his Maker can draw the sword against him” (NJPS; compare NLT), or “only its Maker can approach it with the sword” (NRSV, NIV, ESV, HCSB, NASU)
  10. Job 40:20 Literally “all the animals of the field”
  11. Job 40:22 A seasonal stream that is often dry

The Lord Challenges Job Again

40 The Lord continued his response to Job by saying:

“Should the one who is fighting the Almighty find fault with him?[a]
    Let God’s accuser answer.”

Job Acknowledges His Limitations

Then Job replied to the Lord. He said:

“I must look insignificant to you!
    How can I answer you?
        I’m speechless.[b]
I spoke once,
    but I can’t answer;
I tried[c] a second time,
    but I won’t do so anymore.”

The Lord Continues to Interrogate Job

The Lord answered Job from the wind storm and told him:

“Stand up[d] like a man!
    I’ll ask you some questions,
        and you give me some answers!
Indeed would you annul my justice and condemn me,
    just so you can claim that you’re righteous?
Do you have strength[e] like God?
    Can you create thunder with a sound[f] like he can?”

Can You Save Yourself?

10 “When you have adorned yourself with exalted majesty,
    clothed yourself with splendor and dignity,[g]
11 dispensed the fury of your anger,
    made sure[h] that you have humbled every proud person,
12 stared down and subdued every proud person,
    trampled the wicked right where they are,
13 buried[i] them in the dust together,
    and sent them bound to that secret place,[j]
14 then I will applaud you myself!
    I’ll admit that you can deliver yourself by your own efforts!”

On Behemoth

15 “Please observe[k] Behemoth,[l] which I made along with you.
    He eats grass like an ox.
16 Now take a look at the strength that he has in his loins,
    and in the muscles of his abdomen.
17 His tail protrudes stiffly, like cedar;[m]
    the sinews of his thigh interlink for strength.
18 His bones are conduits[n] of bronze;[o]
    his strong bones are like bars of iron.
19 He is the grandest[p] of God’s undertakings,[q]
    yet his creator is approaching him with his sword.[r]

20 Mountains produce food for him,
    where all the wild animals frolic.
21 He lies under the lotus trees,
    hiding under reeds and marshes.[s]
22 The lotus trees cover him with their shade,
    and willows that line the wadis[t] surround him.
23 What you see as a raging river doesn’t alarm him;
    he is confident when the Jordan overflows.
24 Are your eyes looking to capture him,
    or to pierce his snout with a bridle?”

Footnotes

  1. Job 40:2 The Heb. lacks him
  2. Job 40:4 Lit. I put my hand over my mouth
  3. Job 40:5 The Heb. lacks tried
  4. Job 40:7 Lit. Gird up your loins
  5. Job 40:9 Lit. have an arm
  6. Job 40:9 Lit. voice
  7. Job 40:10 Lit. splendor and majesty
  8. Job 40:11 Lit. see
  9. Job 40:13 MT reads hide
  10. Job 40:13 I.e. the afterlife
  11. Job 40:15 Lit. look
  12. Job 40:15 I.e. an ancient, gigantic herbivore, living in Job’s time but now apparently extinct
  13. Job 40:17 I.e. a genus of coniferous evergreen in the family Pinaceae
  14. Job 40:18 Or channels
  15. Job 40:18 Or copper
  16. Job 40:19 Or first
  17. Job 40:19 Lit. ways
  18. Job 40:19 I.e. God was about to make Behemoth extinct
  19. Job 40:21 Lit. reed and marsh
  20. Job 40:22 I.e. seasonal streams that channel water during rain seasons but are dry at other times