Old/New Testament
Leviathan
2 Can you put a reed in his nose
or pierce his jaw with a hook?
3 Will he keep asking for your favor
or speak tender words to you?
4 Will he sign a contract with you
so that you keep him as your servant forever?
5 Can you play with him like a bird?
Can you put him on a leash for your girls?
6 Do the merchants barter for Leviathan’s meat?
Do they divide it up with the other tradesmen?
7 Can you fill his hide with harpoons
and his head with fishing spears?
8 If you lay your hand on him,
you will never forget the battle and won’t do it again.
9 Listen! Any hope you have of overcoming him is unfounded.
Wouldn’t you be knocked down by the mere sight of him?
10 No one is fierce enough to risk stirring him up.[c]
Who then can stand before me?
11 Who can confront me and demand that I repay him?
Everything under the whole sky belongs to me.
12 I will tell about the parts of his body.
I will describe his power and his beautiful design.
13 Who can strip off his outer covering?
Who can touch his double layer of armor?
14 Who dares to open the doors to his mouth,
which is surrounded with terrifying teeth?
15 His back[d] is like rows of shields,
which are tightly joined together.
16 They are so close together not even a breath of air
can pass between them.
17 They are fastened to each other,
so they stick together and cannot be separated.
18 His snorts are flashes of light.
His eyes are like the eyelids of dawn.
19 Blazing torches come out of his mouth.
Sparks of fire shoot out.
20 Smoke pours out from his nostrils
like a pot boiling over a reed fire.
21 His breath sets coals on fire,
and flames come out of his mouth.
22 Strength dwells in his neck.
Despair dances ahead of him.
23 The folds of his flesh are compact,
solid and immovable.
24 His heart is as hard as rock,
as hard as a lower millstone.
25 When he rises up, the mighty are afraid.
When he thrashes around, they retreat.
26 If someone strikes him with a sword, it has no effect.
Neither do spears, arrows, or javelins.
27 To him iron is like straw;
bronze is like rotten wood.
28 Arrows do not make him flee.
To him sling stones are like chaff;
29 clubs are like stubble.
He laughs at the shaking of a javelin.
30 His underbelly is like sharp pieces of broken pottery.
It leaves marks in the mud like a threshing sledge.
31 He makes the depths boil like a cooking pot.
He makes the sea like a cauldron of ointment.
32 He leaves a shiny wake behind him.
The deep looks like a white-haired man.
33 There is nothing at all like him on earth,
a creature without fear.
34 He looks down on everything that is lofty.
He is king over every proud creature!
Job’s Confession
42 Job responded to the Lord. He said:
2 I know that you can do all things.
No purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3 You asked, “Who is this who spreads darkness over my plans
with his ignorant words?”
I have made statements about things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.
4 You said, “Listen now and I will speak.
I will ask you questions, and you will inform me.”
5 My ear heard about you.
Now my eyes see you.
6 So I despise myself.
I repent in dust and ashes.
The Conclusion
7 After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My anger burns against you and your two friends, because none of you have spoken correctly about me, as my servant Job did. 8 So now, take seven bulls and seven rams for yourselves, go to my servant Job, and offer up a whole burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, so that I will look upon him with favor and not deal with you on the basis of your foolishness, for none of you have spoken correctly about me, as my servant Job did.”
9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Na’amathite went and did as the Lord had told them, and the Lord looked on Job with favor.
10 Then the Lord restored Job’s fortunes, after he had prayed on behalf of his friends. The Lord gave Job twice as much of everything as he had before.
11 Then all his brothers and sisters and all his acquaintances came to Job. They dined with him in his house, and they showed him sympathy and comforted him concerning the tragedy that the Lord had brought on him. Each of them gave him one qesitah[e] of silver and one gold ring.
12 The Lord blessed the last part of Job’s life more than the first part, so he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys.
13 He had seven sons and three daughters. 14 He named his first daughter Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren Happuk. 15 In the whole land there were no women as beautiful as the daughters of Job. Their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
16 After this, Job lived one hundred forty years and saw his sons and their children to the fourth generation.
17 Job died, old and fulfilled by a long life.
22 When the crowd also joined in the attack against them, the magistrates tore off their clothes and ordered them to be beaten with rods. 23 After they had beaten them severely, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to guard them securely. 24 Because he received such a command, the jailer threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
The Earthquake and the Jailer’s Conversion
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. Instantly all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 When the jailer woke up and saw that the prison doors were opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, because he thought that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted with a loud voice, “Don’t harm yourself, because we are all here!”
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in, and fell down trembling in front of Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them outside and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus[a] and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his home. 33 At the same hour of the night, he took them and washed their wounds. Without delay, he and all his family were baptized. 34 Then he brought Paul and Silas into his house and set food before them. He rejoiced, because he and his whole household had come to believe in God.
Released From Prison
35 At daybreak the magistrates sent officers, saying, “Release those men!” 36 The jailer reported these words to Paul: “The magistrates have sent orders that you should be released. So come out now and go in peace.”
37 But Paul said to them, “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now they are releasing us secretly? Absolutely not! Let them come themselves and escort us out!”
38 The officers reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. 39 So they came and apologized to them. As they escorted them out, they requested that they leave the city. 40 After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house. They saw the brothers, encouraged them, and then left.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.