The LORD answers Job out of the whirlwind

38Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: ²“Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge? ³Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me. ⁴Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. ⁵Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched a measuring line across it? ⁶On what were its foundations set, or who laid its cornerstone, ⁷while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? ⁸Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, ⁹when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its blanket, ¹⁰when I fixed its boundaries and set in place its bars and doors, ¹¹and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther; here your proud waves must stop’? ¹²In your days, have you commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place, ¹³that it might spread to the ends of the earth and shake the wicked out of it? ¹⁴The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its hills stand out like the folds of a garment. ¹⁵Light is withheld from the wicked, and their upraised arm is broken. ¹⁶Have you journeyed to the vents of the sea or walked in the trenches of the deep? ¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? ¹⁸Have you surveyed the extent of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this. ¹⁹Where is the way to the home of light? Do you know where darkness resides, ²⁰so you can lead it back to its border? Do you know the paths to its home? ²¹Surely you know, for you were already born! And the number of your days is great! ²²Have you entered the storehouses of snow or observed the storehouses of hail, ²³which I hold in reserve for times of trouble, for the day of war and battle? ²⁴In which direction is the lightning dispersed, or the east wind scattered over the earth? ²⁵Who cuts a channel for the flood or clears a path for the thunderbolt, ²⁶to bring rain on a barren land, on a desert where no man lives, ²⁷to satisfy the parched wasteland and make it sprout with tender grass? ²⁸Does the rain have a father? Who has begotten the drops of dew? ²⁹From whose womb does the ice emerge? Who gives birth to the frost from heaven, ³⁰when the waters become hard as stone and the surface of the deep is frozen? ³¹Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion? ³²Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear and her cubs? ³³Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth? ³⁴Can you command the clouds so that a flood of water covers you? ³⁵Can you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’? ³⁶Who has put wisdom in the heart or given understanding to the mind? ³⁷Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens ³⁸when the dust hardens into a mass and the clods of earth stick together? ³⁹Can you hunt the prey for a lioness or satisfy the hunger of young lions ⁴⁰when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait in the thicket? ⁴¹Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?

39“Do you know when mountain goats give birth? Have you watched the doe bear her fawn? ²Can you count the months they are pregnant? Do you know the time they give birth? ³They crouch down and bring forth their young; they deliver their newborn. ⁴Their young ones thrive and grow up in the open field; they leave and do not return. ⁵Who set the wild donkey free? Who released the swift donkey from the harness? ⁶I made the wilderness his home and the salt flats his dwelling. ⁷He scorns the tumult of the city and never hears the shouts of a driver. ⁸He roams the mountains for pasture, searching for any green thing. ⁹Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will he stay by your manger at night? ¹⁰Can you hold him to the furrow with a harness? Will he plow the valleys behind you? ¹¹Can you rely on his great strength? Will you leave your hard work to him? ¹²Can you trust him to bring in your grain and gather it to your threshing floor? ¹³The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but cannot match the pinions and feathers of the stork. ¹⁴For she leaves her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand. ¹⁵She forgets that a foot may crush them, or a wild animal may trample them. ¹⁶She treats her young harshly, as if not her own, with no concern that her labor was in vain. ¹⁷For God has deprived her of wisdom; He has not endowed her with understanding. ¹⁸Yet when she proudly spreads her wings, she laughs at the horse and its rider. ¹⁹Do you give strength to the horse or adorn his neck with a mane? ²⁰Do you make him leap like a locust, striking terror with his proud snorting? ²¹He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength; he charges into battle. ²²He laughs at fear, frightened of nothing; he does not turn back from the sword. ²³A quiver rattles at his side, along with a flashing spear and lance. ²⁴Trembling with excitement, he devours the distance; he cannot stand still when the ram’s horn sounds. ²⁵At the blast of the horn, he snorts with fervor. He catches the scent of battle from afar— the shouts of captains and the cry of war. ²⁶Does the hawk take flight by your understanding and spread his wings toward the south? ²⁷Does the eagle soar at your command and make his nest on high? ²⁸He dwells on a cliff and lodges there; his stronghold is on a rocky crag. ²⁹From there he spies out food; his eyes see it from afar. ³⁰His young ones feast on blood; and where the slain are, there he is.”

40And the LORD said to Job: ²“Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who argues with God give an answer.” ³Then Job answered the LORD: ⁴“Behold, I am insignificant. How can I reply to You? I place my hand over my mouth. ⁵I have spoken once, but I have no answer— twice, but I have nothing to add.” ⁶Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: ⁷“Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me. ⁸Would you really annul My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself? ⁹Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like His? ¹⁰Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and clothe yourself with honor and glory. ¹¹Unleash the fury of your wrath; look on every proud man and bring him low. ¹²Look on every proud man and humble him; trample the wicked where they stand. ¹³Bury them together in the dust; imprison them in the grave. ¹⁴Then I will confess to you that your own right hand can save you. ¹⁵Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you. He feeds on grass like an ox. ¹⁶See the strength of his loins and the power in the muscles of his belly. ¹⁷His tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are tightly knit. ¹⁸His bones are tubes of bronze; his limbs are rods of iron. ¹⁹He is the foremost of God’s works; only his Maker can draw the sword against him. ²⁰The hills yield him their produce, while all the beasts of the field play nearby. ²¹He lies under the lotus plants, hidden among the reeds of the marsh. ²²The lotus plants conceal him in their shade; the willows of the brook surround him. ²³Though the river rages, Behemoth is unafraid; he remains secure, though the Jordan surges to his mouth. ²⁴Can anyone capture him as he looks on, or pierce his nose with a snare?

41“Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie down his tongue with a rope? ²Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? ³Will he beg you for mercy or speak to you softly? ⁴Will he make a covenant with you to take him as a slave for life? ⁵Can you pet him like a bird or put him on a leash for your maidens? ⁶Will traders barter for him or divide him among the merchants? ⁷Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears? ⁸If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the battle and never repeat it! ⁹Surely hope of overcoming him is false. Is not the sight of him overwhelming? ¹⁰No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan. Then who is able to stand against Me? ¹¹Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Everything under heaven is Mine. ¹²I cannot keep silent about his limbs, his power and graceful form. ¹³Who can strip off his outer coat? Who can approach him with a bridle? ¹⁴Who can open his jaws, ringed by his fearsome teeth? ¹⁵His rows of scales are his pride, tightly sealed together. ¹⁶One scale is so near to another that no air can pass between them. ¹⁷They are joined to one another; they clasp and cannot be separated. ¹⁸His snorting flashes with light, and his eyes are like the rays of dawn. ¹⁹Firebrands stream from his mouth; fiery sparks shoot forth! ²⁰Smoke billows from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds. ²¹His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour from his mouth. ²²Strength resides in his neck, and dismay leaps before him. ²³The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable. ²⁴His chest is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone! ²⁵When Leviathan rises up, the mighty are terrified; they withdraw before his thrashing. ²⁶The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or dart or arrow. ²⁷He regards iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood. ²⁸No arrow can make him flee; slingstones become like chaff to him. ²⁹A club is regarded as straw, and he laughs at the sound of the lance. ³⁰His undersides are jagged potsherds, spreading out the mud like a threshing sledge. ³¹He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron; he makes the sea like a jar of ointment. ³²He leaves a glistening wake behind him; one would think the deep had white hair! ³³Nothing on earth is his equal— a creature devoid of fear! ³⁴He looks down on all the haughty; he is king over all the proud.”

42Then Job replied to the LORD: ²“I know that You can do all things and that no plan of Yours can be thwarted. ³You asked, ‘Who is this who conceals My counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. ⁴You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak. I will question you, and you shall inform Me.’ ⁵My ears had heard of You, but now my eyes have seen You. ⁶Therefore I retract my words, and I repent in dust and ashes.” ⁷After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has. ⁸So now, take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken accurately about Me, as My servant Job has.” ⁹So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD had told them; and the LORD accepted Job’s request. ¹⁰After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his prosperity and doubled his former possessions. ¹¹All his brothers and sisters and prior acquaintances came and dined with him in his house. They consoled him and comforted him over all the adversity that the LORD had brought upon him. And each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring. ¹²So the LORD blessed Job’s latter days more than his first. He owned 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. ¹³And he also had seven sons and three daughters. ¹⁴He named his first daughter Jemimah, his second Keziah, and his third Keren-happuch. ¹⁵No women as beautiful as Job’s daughters could be found in all the land, and their father granted them an inheritance among their brothers. ¹⁶After this, Job lived 140 years and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. ¹⁷And so Job died, old and full of years.