Job 38-42

New Century Version

² “Who is this that makes my purpose unclear
    by saying things that are not true?
³ Be strong like a man!
    I will ask you questions,
    and you must answer me.
⁴ Where were you when I made the earth’s foundation?
    Tell me, if you understand.
⁵ Who marked off how big it should be? Surely you know!
    Who stretched a ruler across it?
⁶ What were the earth’s foundations set on,
    or who put its cornerstone in place
⁷ while the morning stars sang together
    and all the angels shouted with joy?

⁸ “Who shut the doors to keep the sea in
    when it broke through and was born,
⁹ when I made the clouds like a coat for the sea
    and wrapped it in dark clouds,
¹⁰ when I put limits on the sea
    and put its doors and bars in place,
¹¹ when I said to the sea, ‘You may come this far, but no farther;
    this is where your proud waves must stop’?

¹² “Have you ever ordered the morning to begin,
    or shown the dawn where its place was
¹³ in order to take hold of the earth by its edges
    and shake evil people out of it?
¹⁴ At dawn the earth changes like clay being pressed by a seal;
    the hills and valleys stand out like folds in a coat.
¹⁵ Light is not given to evil people;
    their arm is raised to do harm, but it is broken.

¹⁶ “Have you ever gone to where the sea begins
    or walked in the valleys under the sea?
¹⁷ Have the gates of death been opened to you?
    Have you seen the gates of the deep darkness?
¹⁸ Do you understand how wide the earth is?
    Tell me, if you know all these things.

¹⁹ “What is the path to light’s home,
    and where does darkness live?
²⁰ Can you take them to their places?
    Do you know the way to their homes?
²¹ Surely you know, if you were already born when all this happened!
    Have you lived that many years?

²² “Have you ever gone into the storehouse of the snow
    or seen the storehouses for hail,
²³ which I save for times of trouble,
    for days of war and battle?
²⁴ Where is the place from which light comes?
    Where is the place from which the east winds blow over the earth?
²⁵ Who cuts a waterway for the heavy rains
    and sets a path for the thunderstorm?
²⁶ Who waters the land where no one lives,
    the desert that has no one in it?
²⁷ Who sends rain to satisfy the empty land
    so the grass begins to grow?
²⁸ Does the rain have a father?
    Who is father to the drops of dew?
²⁹ Who is the mother of the ice?
    Who gives birth to the frost from the sky
³⁰ when the water becomes hard as stone,
    and even the surface of the ocean is frozen?

³¹ “Can you tie up the stars of the Pleiades
    or loosen the ropes of the stars in Orion?
³² Can you bring out the stars on time
    or lead out the stars of the Bear with its cubs?
³³ Do you know the laws of the sky
    and understand their rule over the earth?

³⁴ “Can you shout an order to the clouds
    and cover yourself with a flood of water?
³⁵ Can you send lightning bolts on their way?
    Do they come to you and say, ‘Here we are’?
³⁶ Who put wisdom inside the mind
    or understanding in the heart?
³⁷ Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
    Who can pour water from the jars of the sky
³⁸ when the dust becomes hard
    and the clumps of dirt stick together?

³⁹ “Do you hunt food for the female lion
    to satisfy the hunger of the young lions
⁴⁰ while they lie in their dens
    or hide in the bushes waiting to attack?
⁴¹ Who gives food to the birds
    when their young cry out to God
    and wander about without food?

39 “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?
    Do you watch when the deer gives birth to her fawn?
² Do you count the months until they give birth
    and know the right time for them to give birth?
³ They lie down, their young are born,
    and then the pain of giving birth is over.
⁴ Their young ones grow big and strong in the wild country.
    Then they leave their homes and do not return.

⁵ “Who let the wild donkey go free?
    Who untied its ropes?
⁶ I am the one who gave the donkey the desert as its home;
    I gave it the desert lands as a place to live.
⁷ The wild donkey laughs at the confusion in the city,
    and it does not hear the drivers shout.
⁸ It roams the hills looking for pasture,
    looking for anything green to eat.

⁹ “Will the wild ox agree to serve you
    and stay by your feeding box at night?
¹⁰ Can you hold it to the plowed row with a harness
    so it will plow the valleys for you?
¹¹ Will you depend on the wild ox for its great strength
    and leave your heavy work for it to do?
¹² Can you trust the ox to bring in your grain
    and gather it to your threshing floor?

¹³ “The wings of the ostrich flap happily,
    but they are not like the feathers of the stork.
¹⁴ The ostrich lays its eggs on the ground
    and lets them warm in the sand.
¹⁵ It does not stop to think that a foot might step on them and crush them;
    it does not care that some animal might walk on them.
¹⁶ The ostrich is cruel to its young, as if they were not even its own.
    It does not care that its work is for nothing,
¹⁷ because God did not give the ostrich wisdom;
    God did not give it a share of good sense.
¹⁸ But when the ostrich gets up to run, it is so fast
    that it laughs at the horse and its rider.

¹⁹ “Job, are you the one who gives the horse its strength
    or puts a flowing mane on its neck?
²⁰ Do you make the horse jump like a locust?
    It scares people with its proud snorting.
²¹ It paws wildly, enjoying its strength,
    and charges into battle.
²² It laughs at fear and is afraid of nothing;
    it does not run away from the sword.
²³ The bag of arrows rattles against the horse’s side,
    along with the flashing spears and swords.
²⁴ With great excitement, the horse races over the ground;
    and it cannot stand still when it hears the trumpet.
²⁵ When the trumpet blows, the horse snorts, ‘Aha!’
    It smells the battle from far away;
    it hears the shouts of commanders and the battle cry.

²⁶ “Is it through your wisdom that the hawk flies
    and spreads its wings toward the south?
²⁷ Are you the one that commands the eagle to fly
    and build its nest so high?
²⁸ It lives on a high cliff and stays there at night;
    the rocky peak is its protected place.
²⁹ From there it looks for its food;
    its eyes can see it from far away.
³⁰ Its young eat blood,
    and where there is something dead, the eagle is there.”

² “Will the person who argues with the Almighty correct him?
    Let the person who accuses God answer him.”

⁴ “I am not worthy; I cannot answer you anything,
    so I will put my hand over my mouth.
⁵ I spoke one time, but I will not answer again;
    I even spoke two times, but I will say nothing more.”

⁷ “Be strong, like a man!
    I will ask you questions,
    and you must answer me.
⁸ Would you say that I am unfair?
    Would you blame me to make yourself look right?
⁹ Are you as strong as God?
    Can your voice thunder like his?
¹⁰ If so, then decorate yourself with glory and beauty;
    dress in honor and greatness as if they were clothing.
¹¹ Let your great anger punish;
    look at the proud and bring them down.
¹² Look at the proud and make them humble.
    Crush the wicked wherever they are.
¹³ Bury them all in the dirt together;
    cover their faces in the grave.
¹⁴ If you can do that, then I myself will praise you,
    because you are strong enough to save yourself.

¹⁵ “Look at Behemoth,^[a]
    which I made just as I made you.
    It eats grass like an ox.
¹⁶ Look at the strength it has in its body;
    the muscles of its stomach are powerful.
¹⁷ Its tail is like a cedar tree;
    the muscles of its thighs are woven together.
¹⁸ Its bones are like tubes of bronze;
    its legs are like bars of iron.
¹⁹ It is one of the first of God’s works,
    but its Maker can destroy it.
²⁰ The hills, where the wild animals play,
    provide food for it.
²¹ It lies under the lotus plants,
    hidden by the tall grass in the swamp.
²² The lotus plants hide it in their shadow;
    the poplar trees by the streams surround it.
²³ If the river floods, it will not be afraid;
    it is safe even if the Jordan River rushes to its mouth.
²⁴ Can anyone blind its eyes and capture it?
    Can anyone put hooks in its nose?

41 “Can you catch Leviathan^[b] on a fishhook
    or tie its tongue down with a rope?
² Can you put a cord through its nose
    or a hook in its jaw?
³ Will it keep begging you for mercy
    and speak to you with gentle words?
⁴ Will it make an agreement with you
    and let you take it as your slave for life?
⁵ Can you make a pet of Leviathan as you would a bird
    or put it on a leash for your girls?
⁶ Will traders try to bargain with you for it?
    Will they divide it up among the merchants?
⁷ Can you stick darts all over its skin
    or fill its head with fishing spears?
⁸ If you put one hand on it,
    you will never forget the battle,
    and you will never do it again!
⁹ There is no hope of defeating it;
    just seeing it overwhelms people.
¹⁰ No one is brave enough to make it angry,
    so who would be able to stand up against me?
¹¹ No one has ever given me anything that I must pay back,
    because everything under the sky belongs to me.

¹² “I will speak about Leviathan’s arms and legs,
    its great strength and well-formed body.
¹³ No one can tear off its outer hide
    or poke through its double armor.
¹⁴ No one can force open its great jaws;
    they are filled with frightening teeth.
¹⁵ It has rows of shields on its back
    that are tightly sealed together.
¹⁶ Each shield is so close to the next one
    that no air can go between them.
¹⁷ They are joined strongly to one another;
    they hold on to each other and cannot be separated.
¹⁸ When it snorts, flashes of light are thrown out,
    and its eyes look like the light at dawn.
¹⁹ Flames blaze from its mouth;
    sparks of fire shoot out.
²⁰ Smoke pours out of its nose,
    as if coming from a large pot over a hot fire.
²¹ Its breath sets coals on fire,
    and flames come out of its mouth.
²² There is great strength in its neck.
    People are afraid and run away.
²³ The folds of its skin are tightly joined;
    they are set and cannot be moved.
²⁴ Its chest is as hard as a rock,
    even as hard as a grinding stone.
²⁵ The powerful fear its terrible looks
    and draw back in fear as it moves.
²⁶ The sword that hits it does not hurt it,
    nor the arrows, darts, and spears.
²⁷ It treats iron as if it were straw
    and bronze metal as if it were rotten wood.
²⁸ It does not run away from arrows;
    stones from slings are like chaff to it.
²⁹ Clubs feel like pieces of straw to it,
    and it laughs when they shake a spear at it.
³⁰ The underside of its body is like broken pieces of pottery.
    It leaves a trail in the mud like a threshing board.
³¹ It makes the deep sea bubble like a boiling pot;
    it stirs up the sea like a pot of oil.
³² When it swims, it leaves a shining path in the water
    that makes the sea look as if it had white hair.
³³ Nothing else on earth is equal to it;
    it is a creature without fear.
³⁴ It looks down on all those who are too proud;
    it is king over all proud creatures.”

² “I know that you can do all things
    and that no plan of yours can be ruined.
³ You asked, ‘Who is this that made my purpose unclear by saying things that are not true?’
    Surely I spoke of things I did not understand;
    I talked of things too wonderful for me to know.
⁴ You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak.
    I will ask you questions,
    and you must answer me.’
⁵ My ears had heard of you before,
    but now my eyes have seen you.
⁶ So now I hate myself;
    I will change my heart and life.
    I will sit in the dust and ashes.”