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Job replies to Bildad[a]

26 Then Job replied. This is what he said:

‘Do not think that you have helped me,
    a weak and helpless man.
Nothing that you have said makes me feel stronger.
What good advice have you given me
    to make me wise?
You have not really shown me how clever you are!
Someone must have helped you to say these wise words.
    Who has put all these thoughts in your minds?

Dead people shake with fear.
    They are under the deep waters.
God sees everything that happens
    in the place of dead people.
Nothing can hide that terrible place from him.
He puts the skies in their place in the north,
    so that they cover empty space.
He hangs the earth in the skies
    and it stays there.
He fills the clouds with water.
    They become heavy but they do not break.
When the moon is big and round, he hides it.
    He causes clouds to cover it.
10 He marks the border between the sea and the sky.
    It is the place where the night finishes and the day begins.
11 When God is angry,
    he shouts at the pillars under the sky.
When they hear his command,
    they shake with fear.
12 He used his power to control the sea.
He used his wisdom to destroy Rahab,
    the great sea monster.
13 He used his breath to make the sky become bright.
With his hand he cut the great sea snake
    as it ran away.
14 These are only a few of the things that God does.
    We only know about a few small things.
If he used all of his power,
    we could never understand.’

Footnotes

  1. 26:1 In chapters 26 and 27, Job says two things. First, he does not agree with the things that his friends have said, see Job 27:5. Second, he is sure that he has never done wrong things, see Job 27:6.

Who Can Understand God?

26 Then Job answered and said,

“What a help you are to (A)the one without power!
How you have saved the arm (B)without strength!
What counsel you have given to one without wisdom!
What sound wisdom you have abundantly made known!
To whom have you declared words?
And whose breath comes out from you?

“The [a](C)departed spirits tremble
Under the waters and their inhabitants.
Naked is (D)Sheol before Him,
And [b](E)Abaddon has no covering.
He (F)stretches out the north over what is formless
And hangs the earth on nothing.
He (G)wraps up the waters in His clouds,
And the cloud does not break out under them.
He [c](H)obscures the face of His [d]throne
And spreads His cloud over it.
10 He has marked a (I)circle on the surface of the waters
At the (J)boundary of light and darkness.
11 The pillars of heaven tremble
And are astonished at His rebuke.
12 He (K)quieted the sea with His power,
And by His (L)understanding He crushed (M)Rahab.
13 By His breath the (N)heavens are made beautiful;
His hand has pierced (O)the fleeing serpent.
14 Behold, these are the fringes of His ways;
And how only with a whisper of (P)a word do we hear of Him!
But His mighty (Q)thunder, who can understand?”

Footnotes

  1. Job 26:5 Or shades; Heb Rephaim
  2. Job 26:6 Lit the realm of destruction
  3. Job 26:9 Lit covers
  4. Job 26:9 Or full moon