God Answers Job

Selections from the Book of Job

(Revised Standard Translation)

Chapter 38

1: Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind:
2: "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3: Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
4: "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.
5: Who determined its measurements -- surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?
6: On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,
7: when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8: "Or who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth from the womb;
9: when I made clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band,
10: and prescribed bounds for it, and set bars and doors,
11: and said, `Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed'?
12: "Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,
13: that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?
14: It is changed like clay under the seal, and it is dyed like a garment.
15: From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken.
16: "Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17: Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
18: Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.
19: "Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness,
20: that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home?
21: You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!
22: "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
23: which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?
24: What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?
25: "Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain, and a way for the thunderbolt,
26: to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man;
27: to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground put forth grass?
28: "Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew?
29: From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven?
30: The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.
31: "Can you bind the chains of the Plei'ades, or loose the cords of Orion?
32: Can you lead forth the Maz'zaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children?
33: Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?
34: "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you?
35: Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, `Here we are'?
36: Who has put wisdom in the clouds, or given understanding to the mists?
37: Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
38: when the dust runs into a mass and the clods cleave fast together?
39: "Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40: when they crouch in their dens, or lie in wait in their covert?
41: Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food?

Chapter 39

1: "Do you know when the mountain goats bring forth? Do you observe the calving of the hinds?
2: Can you number the months that they fulfil, and do you know the time when they bring forth,
3: when they crouch, bring forth their offspring, and are delivered of their young?
4: Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open; they go forth, and do not return to them.
5: "Who has let the wild ass go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass,
6: to whom I have given the steppe for his home, and the salt land for his dwelling place?
7: He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver.
8: He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.
9: "Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your crib?
10: Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you?
11: Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you leave to him your labor?
12: Do you have faith in him that he will return, and bring your grain to your threshing floor?
13: "The wings of the ostrich wave proudly; but are they the pinions and plumage of love?
14: For she leaves her eggs to the earth, and lets them be warmed on the ground,
15: forgetting that a foot may crush them, and that the wild beast may trample them.
16: She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear;
17: because God has made her forget wisdom, and given her no share in understanding.
18: When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and his rider.
19: "Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with strength?
20: Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrible.
21: He paws in the valley, and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons.
22: He laughs at fear, and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword.
23: Upon him rattle the quiver, the flashing spear and the javelin.
24: With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground; he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
25: When the trumpet sounds, he says `Aha!' He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
26: "Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and spreads his wings toward the south?
27: Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high?
28: On the rock he dwells and makes his home in the fastness of the rocky crag.
29: Thence he spies out the prey; his eyes behold it afar off.
30: His young ones suck up blood; and where the slain are, there is he."

Chapter 40

1: And the LORD said to Job:
2: "Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it."
3: Then Job answered the LORD:
4: "Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer thee? I lay my hand on my mouth.
5: I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further."
6: Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind:
7: "Gird up your loins like a man; I will question you, and you declare to me.
8: Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be justified?
9: Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?
10: "Deck yourself with majesty and dignity; clothe yourself with glory and splendor.
11: Pour forth the overflowings of your anger, and look on every one that is proud, and abase him.
12: Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked where they stand.
13: Hide them all in the dust together; bind their faces in the world below.
14: Then will I also acknowledge to you, that your own right hand can give you victory.
15: "Behold, Be'hemoth, which I made as I made you; he eats grass like an ox.
16: Behold, his strength in his loins, and his power in the muscles of his belly.
17: He makes his tail stiff like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are knit together.
18: His bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like bars of iron.
19: "He is the first of the works of God; let him who made him bring near his sword!
20: For the mountains yield food for him where all the wild beasts play.
21: Under the lotus plants he lies, in the covert of the reeds and in the marsh.
22: For his shade the lotus trees cover him; the willows of the brook surround him.
23: Behold, if the river is turbulent he is not frightened; he is confident though Jordan rushes against his mouth.
24: Can one take him with hooks, or pierce his nose with a snare?

Chapter 41

1: "Can you draw out Levi'athan with a fishhook, or press down his tongue with a cord?
2: Can you put a rope in his nose, or pierce his jaw with a hook?
3: Will he make many supplications to you? Will he speak to you soft words?
4: Will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant for ever?
5: Will you play with him as with a bird, or will you put him on leash for your maidens?
6: Will traders bargain over him? Will they divide him up among the merchants?
7: Can you fill his skin with harpoons, or his head with fishing spears?
8: Lay hands on him; think of the battle; you will not do it again!
9: Behold, the hope of a man is disappointed; he is laid low even at the sight of him.
10: No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up. Who then is he that can stand before me?
11: Who has given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.
12: "I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, or his mighty strength, or his goodly frame.
13: Who can strip off his outer garment? Who can penetrate his double coat of mail?
14: Who can open the doors of his face? Round about his teeth is terror.
15: His back is made of rows of shields, shut up closely as with a seal.
16: One is so near to another that no air can come between them.
17: They are joined one to another; they clasp each other and cannot be separated.
18: His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
19: Out of his mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap forth.
20: Out of his nostrils comes forth smoke, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
21: His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from his mouth.
22: In his neck abides strength, and terror dances before him.
23: The folds of his flesh cleave together, firmly cast upon him and immovable.
24: His heart is hard as a stone, hard as the nether millstone.
25: When he raises himself up the mighty are afraid; at the crashing they are beside themselves.
26: Though the sword reaches him, it does not avail; nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin.
27: He counts iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood.
28: The arrow cannot make him flee; for him slingstones are turned to stubble.
29: Clubs are counted as stubble; he laughs at the rattle of javelins.
30: His underparts are like sharp potsherds; he spreads himself like a threshing sledge on the mire.
31: He makes the deep boil like a pot; he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
32: Behind him he leaves a shining wake; one would think the deep to be hoary.
33: Upon earth there is not his like, a creature without fear.
34: He beholds everything that is high; he is king over all the sons of pride."

Chapter 42

1: Then Job answered the LORD:
2: "I know that thou canst do all things, and that no purpose of thine can be thwarted.
3: `Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4: `Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.'
5: I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee;
6: therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes."
7: After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eli'phaz the Te'manite: "My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.
8: Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has."
9: So Eli'phaz the Te'manite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Na'amathite went and did what the LORD had told them; and the LORD accepted Job's prayer.
10: And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends; and the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
11: Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house; and they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold.
12: And the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses.
13: He had also seven sons and three daughters.
14: And he called the name of the first Jemi'mah; and the name of the second Kezi'ah; and the name of the third Ker'en-hap'puch.
15: And in all the land there were no women so fair as Job's daughters; and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers.
16: And after this Job lived a hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, four generations.
17: And Job died, an old man, and full of days.