Job 26
New Catholic Bible
Job’s Eighth Response
Chapter 26
How Profuse Is the Advice You Suggest![a] 1 Job then answered with these words:
2 “What a help you are to the helpless,
and what strength you are to the weak!
3 What good counsel you give to the ignorant!
How abundantly you have manifested wisdom!
4 Who has helped you utter those words?
And whose spirit issued forth from your mouth?
God’s Mighty Works
5 “The dead below tremble with fright,
as do the waters and all their inhabitants.
6 The netherworld[b] is laid bare before him,
and Abaddon lies uncovered.
7 “He stretches out the North[c] above the void
and suspends the earth on nothingness.
8 He encloses the waters in dense clouds,
yet the clouds are not torn asunder under their weight.
9 He veils the face of the full moon,
spreading his clouds beneath it.
10 “He has established the horizon on the surface of the waters
as the boundary between light and darkness.
11 The pillars of the heavens shake,
stunned by the thunder of his voice.
12 By his power he churns up the sea,
and by his skill he smites Rahab.[d]
13 By his breath the skies are cleared,
and by his hand he has pierced the fleeing serpent.[e]
14 “These deeds are only a sample of what he has done,
and how faint is the whisper that we hear of him,
but who can possibly comprehend the thunder of his power?”
Footnotes
- Job 26:1 Job appeals to irony once again in answer to Bildad: is it right to proclaim God’s power to a dying man?
- Job 26:6 Netherworld: see note on Ps 6:6. Abaddon: a Hebrew word meaning “a place of destruction,” which was used as another word for the netherworld (see Job 28:22; Rev 9:11).
- Job 26:7 The North: another word for the firmament (see note on Ps 48:3).
- Job 26:12 See the note on Job 7:12.
- Job 26:13 Fleeing serpent: i.e., Leviathan; see notes on Job 3:8; 7:12.
Job 26
Modern English Version
Job Replies: God’s Majesty Is Unsearchable
26 But Job answered:
2 “How have you helped him who is without power?
How have you saved the arm that has no strength?
3 How have you counseled him who has no wisdom?
And how have you plentifully declared sound knowledge?
4 To whom have you uttered words?
And whose breath came from you?
5 “The departed spirits tremble under the waters,
and their inhabitants.
6 The underworld is naked before Him,
and destruction has no covering.
7 He stretches out the north over empty space,
He hangs the earth upon nothing.
8 He binds up the waters in His thick clouds,
and the cloud is not broken under them.
9 He covers the face of the full moon
and spreads His cloud over it.
10 He has circled the waters with boundaries,
until the day and night come to an end.
11 The pillars of heaven tremble
and are astonished at His reproof.
12 He divides the sea with His power,
and by His understanding He strikes through the proud.
13 By His breath He has made fair the heavens;
His hand has formed the fleeing serpent.
14 Indeed, these are but a part of His ways,
and how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.