Job 38-42

Good News Translation

^8 (B)Who closed the gates to hold back the sea^[b]
    when it burst from the womb of the earth?
⁹ It was I who covered the sea with clouds
    and wrapped it in darkness.
¹⁰ I marked a boundary for the sea
    and kept it behind bolted gates.
¹¹ I told it, “So far and no farther!
    Here your powerful waves must stop.”
¹² Job, have you ever in all your life
    commanded a day to dawn?
¹³ Have you ordered the dawn to seize the earth
    and shake the wicked from their hiding places?
¹⁴ Daylight makes the hills and valleys stand out
    like the folds of a garment,
    clear as the imprint of a seal on clay.
¹⁵ The light of day is too bright for the wicked
    and restrains them from doing violence.

¹⁶ Have you been to the springs in the depths of the sea?
    Have you walked on the floor of the ocean?
¹⁷ Has anyone ever shown you the gates
    that guard the dark world of the dead?
¹⁸ Have you any idea how big the world is?
    Answer me if you know.

¹⁹ Do you know where the light comes from
    or what the source of darkness is?
²⁰ Can you show them how far to go,
    or send them back again?
²¹ I am sure you can, because you're so old
    and were there when the world was made!

²² Have you ever visited the storerooms,
    where I keep the snow and the hail?
²³ I keep them ready for times of trouble,
    for days of battle and war.
²⁴ Have you been to the place where the sun comes up,
    or the place from which the east wind blows?

²⁵ Who dug a channel for the pouring rain
    and cleared the way for the thunderstorm?
²⁶ Who makes rain fall where no one lives?
²⁷ Who waters the dry and thirsty land,
    so that grass springs up?
²⁸ Does either the rain or the dew have a father?
²⁹ Who is the mother of the ice and the frost,
³⁰     which turn the waters to stone
    and freeze the face of the sea?

^31 (C)Can you tie the Pleiades together
    or loosen the bonds that hold Orion?
³² Can you guide the stars season by season
    and direct the Big and the Little Dipper?
³³ Do you know the laws that govern the skies,
    and can you make them apply to the earth?

³⁴ Can you shout orders to the clouds
    and make them drench you with rain?
³⁵ And if you command the lightning to flash,
    will it come to you and say, “At your service”?
³⁶ Who tells the ibis^[c] when the Nile will flood,
    or who tells the rooster that rain will fall?^[d]
37 Who is wise enough to count the clouds
    and tilt them over to pour out the rain,
³⁸     rain that hardens the dust into lumps?

³⁹ Do you find food for lions to eat,
    and satisfy hungry young lions
⁴⁰     when they hide in their caves,
    or lie in wait in their dens?
⁴¹ Who is it that feeds the ravens
    when they wander about hungry,
    when their young cry to me for food?

⁵ Who gave the wild donkeys their freedom?
    Who turned them loose and let them roam?
⁶ I gave them the desert to be their home,
    and let them live on the salt plains.
⁷ They keep far away from the noisy cities,
    and no one can tame them and make them work.
⁸ The mountains are the pastures where they feed,
    where they search for anything green to eat.

⁹ Will a wild ox work for you?
    Is he willing to spend the night in your stable?
¹⁰ Can you hold one with a rope and make him plow?
    Or make him pull a harrow in your fields?
¹¹ Can you rely on his great strength
    and expect him to do your heavy work?
¹² Do you expect him to bring in your harvest
    and gather the grain from your threshing place?

¹³ How fast the wings of an ostrich beat!
    But no ostrich can fly like a stork.^[e]
14 The ostrich leaves her eggs on the ground
    for the heat in the soil to warm them.
¹⁵ She is unaware that a foot may crush them
    or a wild animal break them.
¹⁶ She acts as if the eggs were not hers,
    and is unconcerned that her efforts were wasted.
¹⁷ It was I who made her foolish
    and did not give her wisdom.
¹⁸ But when she begins to run,^[f]
    she can laugh at any horse and rider.

¹⁹ Was it you, Job, who made horses so strong
    and gave them their flowing manes?
²⁰ Did you make them leap like locusts
    and frighten people with their snorting?
²¹ They eagerly paw the ground in the valley;
    they rush into battle with all their strength.
²² They do not know the meaning of fear,
    and no sword can turn them back.
²³ The weapons which their riders carry
    rattle and flash in the sun.
²⁴ Trembling with excitement, the horses race ahead;
    when the trumpet blows, they can't stand still.
²⁵ At each blast of the trumpet they snort;
    they can smell a battle before they get near,
    and they hear the officers shouting commands.

²⁶ Does a hawk learn from you how to fly
    when it spreads its wings toward the south?
²⁷ Does an eagle wait for your command
    to build its nest high in the mountains?
²⁸ It makes its home on the highest rocks
    and makes the sharp peaks its fortress.
²⁹ From there it watches near and far
    for something to kill and eat.
^30 (D)Around dead bodies the eagles gather,
    and the young eagles drink the blood.

¹⁵ Look at the monster Behemoth;^[g]
    I created him and I created you.
He eats grass like a cow,
¹⁶     but what strength there is in his body,
    and what power there is in his muscles!
¹⁷ His tail stands up like a cedar,
    and the muscles in his legs are strong.
¹⁸ His bones are as strong as bronze,
    and his legs are like iron bars.

¹⁹ The most amazing of all my creatures!
    Only his Creator can defeat him.
²⁰ Grass to feed him grows
    on the hills where wild beasts play.^[h]
21 He lies down under the thorn bushes,
    and hides among the reeds in the swamp.
²² The thorn bushes and the willows by the stream
    give him shelter in their shade.
²³ He is not afraid of a rushing river;
    he is calm when the Jordan dashes in his face.
²⁴ Who can blind his eyes and capture him?
    Or who can catch his snout in a trap?

⁹ Anyone who sees Leviathan
    loses courage and falls to the ground.
¹⁰ When he is aroused, he is fierce;
    no one would dare to stand before him.
¹¹ Who can attack him and still be safe?
    No one in all the world can do it.^[j]

¹² Let me tell you about Leviathan's legs
    and describe how great and strong he is.
¹³ No one can tear off his outer coat
    or pierce the armor^[k] he wears.
¹⁴ Who can make him open his jaws,
    ringed with those terrifying teeth?
¹⁵ His back^[l] is made of rows of shields,
    fastened together and hard as stone.
¹⁶ Each one is joined so tight to the next,
    not even a breath can come between.
¹⁷ They all are fastened so firmly together
    that nothing can ever pull them apart.
¹⁸ Light flashes when he sneezes,
    and his eyes glow like the rising sun.
¹⁹ Flames blaze from his mouth,
    and streams of sparks fly out.
²⁰ Smoke comes pouring out of his nose,
    like smoke from weeds burning under a pot.
²¹ His breath starts fires burning;
    flames leap out of his mouth.
²² His neck is so powerful
    that all who meet him are terrified.
²³ There is not a weak spot in his skin;
    it is as hard and unyielding as iron.
²⁴ His stony heart is without fear,
    as unyielding and hard as a millstone.
²⁵ When he rises up, even the strongest^[m] are frightened;
    they are helpless with fear.
²⁶ There is no sword that can wound him;
    no spear or arrow or lance that can harm him.
²⁷ For him iron is as flimsy as straw,
    and bronze as soft as rotten wood.
²⁸ There is no arrow that can make him run;
    rocks thrown at him are like bits of straw.
²⁹ To him a club is a piece of straw,
    and he laughs when men throw spears.
³⁰ The scales on his belly are like jagged pieces of pottery;
    they tear up the muddy ground like a threshing sledge.^[n]
31 He churns up the sea like boiling water
    and makes it bubble like a pot of oil.
³² He leaves a shining path behind him
    and turns the sea to white foam.
³³ There is nothing on earth to compare with him;
    he is a creature that has no fear.
³⁴ He looks down on even the proudest animals;
    he is king of all wild beasts.