Job 38 - 42 — Legacy Standard Bible

Yahweh Answers Job

38Then Yahweh ^aanswered Job out of the ¹whirlwind and said,

²“Who is this that ^adarkens counselBy words without knowledge?³“Now ^agird up your loins like a man,And ^bI will ask you, and you make Me know!⁴“Where were you ^awhen I laid the foundation of the earth?Tell Me, if you know understanding,⁵Who set its ^ameasurements? Since you know.Or who stretched the line on it?⁶“On what ^awere its bases sunk?Or who laid its cornerstone,⁷When the morning stars sang togetherAnd all the ^asons of God shouted for joy?⁸“Or who ^aenclosed the sea with doorsWhen, bursting forth, it went out from the womb,⁹When I made a cloud its garmentAnd dense gloom its swaddling band,¹⁰And I ¹^,^aplaced boundaries on itAnd set a bolt and doors,¹¹And I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther;And here shall your proud waves stop’?

Yahweh Answers Job, “Have You?”

¹²“Have you ¹ever in your life commanded the morning,And caused the dawn to know its place,¹³That it might seize ^athe ends of the earth,And ^bthe wicked be shaken out of it?¹⁴“It is changed like clay under the seal;And they stand forth like clothing.¹⁵“^aFrom the wicked their light is withheld,And the arm ^braised high is broken.¹⁶“Have you entered into ^athe springs of the seaOr walked ¹in the recesses of the deep?¹⁷“Have the gates of death been revealed to you,Or have you seen the gates of the ^ashadow of death?¹⁸“Have you carefully considered the ¹expanse of ^athe earth?Tell Me, if you know all this.¹⁹“Where is the way to where the light dwells?And darkness, where is its place,²⁰That you may take it to ^aits territoryAnd that you may discern the paths to its ¹home?²¹“You know, for ^ayou were born then,And the number of your days is great!²²“Have you entered the storehouses ^aof the snow,Or have you seen the storehouses of the ^bhail,²³Which I have reserved for the time of distress,For the day of war and battle?²⁴“Where is the way that ^athe light is divided,Or the east wind scattered on the earth?²⁵“Who has cleft a conduit for the flood,Or a way for the thunderbolt,²⁶To bring ^arain on a land without ¹people,On a desert without a man in it,²⁷To ^asatisfy the waste and desolate landAnd to make the growth of grass to sprout?²⁸“Has ^athe rain a father?Or who has begotten the drops of dew?²⁹“From whose womb has come the ^aice?And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth?³⁰“Water ¹becomes hard like stone,And the surface of the deep ²is interlocked.³¹“Can you bind the chains of the ^aPleiades,Or loose the cords of Orion?³²“Can you lead forth a ¹constellation in its season,And guide the Bear with her ²satellites?³³“Do you know the ^astatutes of the heavens,Or fix their rule over the earth?³⁴“Can you raise your voice up to the clouds,So that an ^aabundance of water will cover you?³⁵“Can you ^asend forth lightnings that they may goAnd say to you, ‘Here we are’?³⁶“Who has ^agiven wisdom in the ¹innermost beingOr given ^bunderstanding to the ²mind?³⁷“Who can count the clouds by wisdom,Or ^atip the water jars of the heavens,³⁸When the dust hardens into a massAnd the clods stick together?

Yahweh Answers Job, “Where Were You?”

³⁹“Can you hunt the ^aprey for the lion,Or fulfill the appetite of the young lions,⁴⁰When they ^acrouch in their densAnd lie in wait in their lair?⁴¹“Who prepares for ^athe raven its provisionWhen its young cry for help to GodAnd wander about without food?39“Do you know the time the ¹^,^amountain goats give birth?Do you keep watch over the calving of the ^bdeer?²“Can you count the months they fulfill,Or do you know the time they give birth?³“They kneel down; they bring forth their young;They send out their labor pains.⁴“Their children become strong; they grow up in the open field;They leave and do not return to them.⁵“Who sent out the ^awild donkey free?And who loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,⁶For whom I have set ^athe desert plain as a homeAnd the salt land as his dwelling place?⁷“He laughs at the tumult of the city;The shoutings of the driver he does not hear.⁸“He explores the mountains for his pastureAnd searches after every green thing.⁹“Will the ^awild ox consent to serve you,Or will he spend the night at your manger?¹⁰“Can you bind the wild ox in a furrow with ¹ropes,Or will he harrow the valleys after you?¹¹“Will you trust him because his power is greatAnd leave your labor to him?¹²“Will you believe him that he will return your seed of grainAnd gather it from your threshing floor?¹³“The ostriches’ wings flap joyouslyBut are they the pinion and plumage of a ¹stork?¹⁴For she leaves her eggs to the earthAnd warms them in the dust,¹⁵And she forgets that a foot may crush ¹them,Or that a beast of the field may trample ²them.¹⁶“She treats her children ^acruelly, as if they were not hers;Though her labor be empty, she is without dread,¹⁷Because God has made her forget wisdom,And has not given her a share of understanding.¹⁸“When she raises herself up high,She laughs at the horse and his rider.¹⁹“Do you give the horse his might?Do you clothe his neck with a mane?²⁰“Do you make him ^aleap like the locust?His splendid ^bsnorting is terrible.²¹“¹He paws in the valley and rejoices in his power;He ^agoes out to meet the weapons.²²“He laughs at dread and is not dismayed;And he does not turn back from the sword.²³“The quiver rattles against him,The flashing spear and javelin.²⁴“With shaking and rage he ¹races over the ground,And he does not ²stand still at the sound of the trumpet.²⁵“As often as the trumpet sounds he says, ‘Aha!’And he scents the battle from afar,And the thunder of the commanders and the shout of war.²⁶“Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars,Stretching his wings toward the south?²⁷“Is it at your ¹command that the eagle goes on highAnd raises ^ahis nest high?²⁸“On the cliff he dwells and lodges,Upon the rocky crag, a fortress.²⁹“From there he ¹^,^aspies out food;His eyes see it from afar.³⁰“His young ones also suck up blood;And ^awhere the slain are, there is he.”

Job Places His Hand over His Mouth

40Then Yahweh answered Job and said,

²“Will the faultfinder ^acontend with the Almighty?Let him who ^breproves God answer it.”

³Then Job answered Yahweh and said,

⁴“Behold, I am insignificant; what can I respond to You?I ^aplace my hand over my mouth.⁵“Once I have spoken, and ^aI will not answer;Even twice, and I will add nothing more.”

Yahweh Will Ask Job

⁶Then ^aYahweh answered Job out of the ¹whirlwind and said,

⁷“Now ^agird up your loins like a man;I will ^bask you, and you make Me know.⁸“Will you really ^aannul My judgment?Will you ^bcondemn Me ^cthat you may be justified?⁹“Or do you have an arm like God,And can you ^athunder with a voice like His?¹⁰“^aAdorn yourself with exaltation and loftiness,And clothe yourself with splendor and majesty.¹¹“Pour out ^athe overflowings of your anger,And look on everyone who is ^bproud, and make him low.¹²“Look on everyone who is proud, and ^ahumble him,And ^btread down the wicked ¹in their place.¹³“^aHide them in the dust together;Bind their faces in the hidden place.¹⁴“Then I will also praise you,That your own right hand can save you.

Behold the Behemoth

¹⁵“Behold now, ¹Behemoth, which ^aI made along with you;It eats grass like an ox.¹⁶“Behold now, its power in its loinsAnd its vigor in the muscles of its belly.¹⁷“It hangs its tail like a cedar;The sinews of its thighs are knit together.¹⁸“Its bones are tubes of bronze;Its ¹limbs are like bars of iron.¹⁹“It is the ^afirst of the ways of God;Let its ^bMaker bring near its sword.²⁰“Surely the mountains ^abring it food,And all the beasts of the field ^bplay there.²¹“Under the lotus plants it lies down,In the hidden place of the reeds and the marsh.²²“The lotus plants cover it with ¹shade;The willows of the brook surround it.²³“If a river oppresses, it is not alarmed;It is secure, though the ^aJordan bursts forth to its mouth.²⁴“Can anyone capture it before its eyes,With snares can anyone pierce its nose?

Can You Draw Out Leviathan?

41“¹Can you draw out ²^,^aLeviathan with a fishhook?Or press down its tongue with a cord?²“Can you ^aput a ¹rope in its noseOr pierce its jaw with a ²hook?³“Will it make many supplications to you,Or will he speak to you soft words?⁴“Will it cut a covenant with you?Will you take it for a slave forever?⁵“Will you play with it as with a bird,Or will you bind it for your young women?⁶“Will the ¹traders bargain over it?Will they divide it among the merchants?⁷“Can you fill its skin with harpoons,Or its head with fishing spears?⁸“Place your hand on it;Remember the battle; ¹you will not do that again!⁹“¹Behold, ²his expectation is a lie;Will ³he be laid low even at the sight of it?¹⁰“No one is so fierce that he dares to ^aarouse it;Who then is he that can stand before Me?¹¹“Who has ¹^,^agiven to Me that I should repay him?Whatever is ^bunder the whole heaven is Mine.¹²“I will not keep silence concerning its limbs,Or its mighty strength or its graceful frame.¹³“Who can ¹strip off its ²outer armor?Who can come with its doubled ³bridle?¹⁴“Who can open the doors of its face?Around its teeth there is dreadful terror.¹⁵“Its ¹strong scales are its pride,Shut up as with a tight seal.¹⁶“One is so near to anotherThat no air can come between them.¹⁷“They cling one to another;They are interlocked and cannot be separated.¹⁸“Its sneezes flash forth light,And its eyes are like the ^aeyelids of the morning.¹⁹“Out of its mouth go burning torches;Sparks of fire ¹leap forth.²⁰“Out of its nostrils smoke goes forthAs from a boiling pot and burning reeds.²¹“Its breath kindles coals,And a flame goes forth from its mouth.²²“In its neck lodges strength,And dismay leaps before it.²³“The folds of its flesh cling together,Hardened upon it and is not shaken.²⁴“Its heart is as hard as a stone,Even as hard as a lower millstone.²⁵“When it raises itself up, the ¹mighty fear,Because of the crashing they are ²bewildered.²⁶“The sword that reaches it cannot avail,Nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin.²⁷“It regards iron as straw,Bronze as rotten wood.²⁸“The ¹arrow cannot make it flee;Slingstones are turned into stubble for it.²⁹“Clubs are regarded as stubble;It laughs at the rattling of the javelin.³⁰“Its underparts are like sharp potsherds;It ¹spreads out like a threshing sledge on the mire.³¹“It makes the depths boil like a pot;It makes the sea like a jar of ointment.³²“Behind it, it makes a wake to shine;One would think the deep to be gray-haired.³³“^aThere is nothing upon the ¹dust like it,One made without terror.³⁴“¹It looks on everything that is high;It is king over all the ^asons of pride.”

Job Repents in Dust and Ashes

42Then Job answered Yahweh and said,

²“I know that ^aYou can do all things,And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.³‘Who is this that ^ahides counsel without knowledge?’Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand,Things ^btoo marvelous for me, which I did not know.⁴‘Hear, now, and I will speak;I will ^aask You, and You make me know.’⁵“I have ^aheard of You by the hearing of the ear;But now my ^beye sees You;⁶Therefore I reject myself,And I repent in dust and ashes.”

Yahweh’s Anger Towards Job’s Friends

⁷Now it happened after Yahweh had spoken these words to Job, that Yahweh said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My anger burns against you and against your two friends because you have not spoken of Me what is right ^aas My servant Job has. ⁸“So now, take for yourselves ^aseven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a ^bburnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will ^cpray for you. ^dFor I will ¹accept him so that I may not do with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.” ⁹So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as Yahweh told them; and Yahweh ¹accepted Job.

Yahweh Restores Job’s Fortunes

¹⁰And Yahweh ^arestored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and Yahweh increased all that Job had twofold. ¹¹Then all his ^abrothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they ^bconsoled him and comforted him for all the calamity that Yahweh had brought on him. And each one gave him one ¹qesitah, and each a ring of gold. ¹²^aAnd Yahweh blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; ^band he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 pairs of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys. ¹³^aHe also had seven sons and three daughters. ¹⁴And he named the first Jemimah and the second Keziah and the third Keren-happuch. ¹⁵Now in all the land no women were found so beautiful as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers. ¹⁶And after this, Job lived 140 years and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations. ¹⁷^aThen Job died, an old man and full of days.