Job 38-41

Common English Bible

² Who is this darkening counsel
    with words lacking knowledge?
³ Prepare yourself like a man;
    I will interrogate you, and you will respond to me.

⁴ Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations?
    Tell me if you know.
⁵ Who set its measurements? Surely you know.
    Who stretched a measuring tape on it?
⁶ On what were its footings sunk;
    who laid its cornerstone,
⁷     while the morning stars sang in unison
        and all the divine beings shouted?
⁸ Who enclosed the Sea^[a] behind doors
    when it burst forth from the womb,
⁹     when I made the clouds its garment,
        the dense clouds its wrap,
¹⁰     when I imposed^[b] my limit for it,
        put on a bar and doors
¹¹     and said, “You may come this far, no farther;
        here your proud waves stop”?

¹⁶ Have you gone to the sea’s sources,
    walked in the chamber of the deep?
¹⁷ Have death’s gates been revealed to you;
    can you see the gates of deep darkness?
¹⁸ Have you surveyed earth’s expanses?
    Tell me if you know everything about it.
¹⁹ Where’s the road to the place where light dwells;
        darkness, where’s it located?
²⁰     Can you take it to its territory;
        do you know the paths to its house?
²¹ You know, for you were born then;
    you have lived such a long time!^[c]
22 Have you gone to snow’s storehouses,
        seen the storehouses of hail
²³     that I have reserved for a time of distress,
        for a day of battle and war?
²⁴ What is the way to the place where light is divided up;
        the east wind scattered over earth?

²⁵ Who cut a channel for the downpours
        and a way for blasts of thunder
²⁶     to bring water to uninhabited land,
        a desert with no human
²⁷     to saturate dry wasteland
        and make grass sprout?
²⁸ Has the rain a father
    who brought forth drops of dew?
²⁹ From whose belly does ice come;
    who gave birth to heaven’s frost?
³⁰ Water hardens like stone;
    the surface of the deep thickens.
³¹ Can you bind Pleiades’ chains
    or loosen the reins of Orion?
³² Can you guide the stars
at their proper times,
    lead the Bear with her cubs?
³³ Do you know heaven’s laws,
    or can you impose its rule on earth?
³⁴ Can you issue an order to the clouds
    so their abundant waters cover you?
³⁵ Can you send lightning so that it goes
    and then says to you, “I’m here”?
³⁶ Who put wisdom in remote places,
    or who gave understanding to a rooster?^[d]
37 Who is wise enough to count the clouds,
        and who can tilt heaven’s water containers
³⁸     so that dust becomes mud
        and clods of dirt adhere?

³⁹ Can you hunt prey for the lion
    or fill the cravings of lion cubs?
⁴⁰ They lie in their den,
    lie in ambush in their lair.
⁴¹ Who provides food for the raven
    when its young cry to God,
    move about without food?

39 Do you know when mountain goats give birth;
    do you observe the birthing of does?
² Can you count the months of pregnancy;
    do you know when they give birth?
³ They crouch, split open for their young,
    send forth their offspring.
⁴ Their young are healthy; they grow up in the open country,
    leave and never return.

⁵ Who freed the wild donkey,
        loosed the ropes of the onager
⁶     to whom I gave the desert as home,
        his dwelling place in the salt flats?
⁷ He laughs at the clamor of the town,
        doesn’t hear the driver’s shout,
⁸     searches the hills for food
        and seeks any green sprout.

⁹ Will the wild ox agree to be your slave,
    or will it spend the night in your crib?
¹⁰ Can you bind it with a rope to a plowed row;
    will it plow the valley behind you?
¹¹ Will you trust it because its strength is great
    so that you can leave your work to it?
¹² Can you rely on it to bring back your grain
    to gather into your threshing floor?

¹³ The ostrich’s wings flap joyously,
    but her wings and plumage are like a stork.
¹⁴ She leaves her eggs on the earth,
    lets them warm in the dust,
¹⁵     then forgets that a foot may crush them
        or a wild animal trample them.
¹⁶ She treats her young harshly as if they were not hers,
    without worrying that her labor might be in vain;
¹⁷ God didn’t endow her with sense,
    didn’t give her some good sense.
¹⁸ When she flaps her wings high,
    she laughs at horse and rider.

¹⁹ Did you give strength to the horse,
        clothe his neck with a mane,
²⁰     cause him to leap like a locust,
        his majestic snorting, a fright?
²¹ He^[e] paws in the valley, prances proudly,
        charges at battle weapons,
²²     laughs at fear, unafraid.
He doesn’t turn away from the sword;
²³     a quiver of arrows flies by him,
        flashing spear and dagger.
²⁴ Excitedly, trembling, he swallows the ground;
    can’t stand still at a trumpet’s blast.
²⁵ At a trumpet’s sound, he says, “Aha!”
    smells the battle from afar,
        hears^[f] officers’ shouting and the battle cry.

²⁶ Is it due to your understanding that the hawk flies,
    spreading its wings to the south?
²⁷ Or at your command does the eagle soar,
    the vulture build a nest on high?
²⁸ They dwell on an outcropping of rock,
    their fortress on rock’s edge.
²⁹ From there they search for food;
    their eyes notice it from afar,
³⁰     and their young lap up blood;
        where carcasses lie, there they are.

² Will the one who disputes with the Almighty correct him?
    God’s instructor must answer him.
³ Job responded to the Lord:
⁴ Look, I’m of little worth. What can I answer you?
    I’ll put my hand over my mouth.
⁵ I have spoken once, I won’t answer;
    twice, I won’t do it again.

⁶ The Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:
⁷ Prepare yourself like a man;
    I will interrogate you, and you will respond to me.
⁸ Would you question my justice,
    deem me guilty so you can be innocent?
⁹ Or do you have an arm like God;
    can you thunder with a voice like him?
¹⁰ Adorn yourself with splendor and majesty;
    clothe yourself with honor and esteem.
¹¹ Unleash your raging anger;
    look on all the proud and humble them.
¹² Look on all the proud and debase them;
    trample the wicked in their place.
¹³ Hide them together in the dust;
    bind their faces in a hidden place.
¹⁴ Then I, even I, will praise you,
    for your strong hand has delivered you.

¹⁵ Look at Behemoth, whom I made along with you;
    he eats grass like cattle.
¹⁶ Look, his strength is in his thighs,
    his power in stomach muscles.
¹⁷ He stiffens his tail like a cedar;
    the tendons in his thighs are tightly woven.
¹⁸ His bones are like bronze tubes,
    his limbs like iron bars.
¹⁹ He is the first of God’s acts;
    only his maker can come near him with a sword.
²⁰ Indeed, the hills bring him tribute,
    places where all the wild animals play.
²¹ He lies under the lotuses,
    under the cover of reed and marsh.
²² The lotuses screen him with shade;
    poplars of the stream surround him.
²³ If the river surges, he doesn’t hurry;
    he is confident even though the Jordan gushes into his mouth.
²⁴ Can he be seized by his eyes?
    Can anyone pierce his nose by hooks?

41 ^[g] Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook,
    restrain his tongue with a rope?
² Can you put a cord through his nose,
    pierce his jaw with a barb?
³ Will he beg you at length
    or speak gentle words to you?
⁴ Will he make a pact with you
    so that you will take him as a permanent slave?
⁵ Can you play with him like a bird,
    put a leash on him for your girls?
⁶ Will merchants sell him;
    will they divide him among traders?
⁷ Can you fill his hide with darts,
    his head with a fishing spear?
⁸ Should you lay your hand on him,
    you would never remember the battle.
⁹ Such hopes^[h] would be delusional;
    surely the sight of him makes one stumble.
¹⁰ Nobody is fierce enough to rouse him;
    who then can stand before me?
¹¹ Who opposes me that I must repay?
    Everything under heaven is mine.
¹² I’m not awed by his limbs,
    his strength, and impressive form.
¹³ Who can remove his outer garment;
    who can come with a bridle for him?
¹⁴ Who can open the doors of his mouth,
    surrounded by frightening teeth?
¹⁵ His matching scales are his pride,
    closely locked and sealed.
¹⁶         One touches another;
        even air can’t come between them.
¹⁷ Each clings to its pair;
    joined, they can’t be separated.
¹⁸ His sneezes emit flashes of light;
    his eyes are like dawn’s rays.
¹⁹ Shafts of fire shoot from his mouth;
    like fiery sparks they fly out.
²⁰ Smoke pours from his nostrils
    like a boiling pot over reeds.
²¹ His breath lights coals;
    a flame shoots from his mouth.
²² Power resides in his neck;
    violence dances before him.
²³ The folds of his flesh stick together;
    on him they are tough and unyielding.
²⁴ His heart is solid like a rock,
    hard like a lower millstone.
²⁵ The divine beings dread his rising;
    they withdraw before his thrashing.
²⁶ The sword that touches him won’t prevail;
    neither will the dart, spear, nor javelin.
²⁷ He treats iron as straw,
    bronze as rotten wood.
²⁸ Arrows can’t make him flee;
    slingstones he turns to straw.
²⁹ He treats a club like straw;
    he laughs at the lance’s rattle.
³⁰ His abdomen is like jagged pottery shards;
    its sharp edges leave a trail in the mud.
³¹ He causes the depths to churn like a boiling pot,
    stirs up the sea like a pot of scented oils,
³²         leaves a bright wake behind him;
        the frothy deep seems white-haired.
³³ None on earth can compare to him;
    he is made to be without fear.
³⁴ He looks on all the proud;
    he is king over all proud beasts.