Job 40:6--41:34

The Lord’s Second Speech

40:6 Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:

40:7 “Get ready for a difficult task like a man.

I will question you and you will inform me!

40:8 Would you indeed annul my justice?

Would you declare me guilty so that you might be right?

40:9 Do you have an arm as powerful as God’s,

and can you thunder with a voice like his?

40:10 Adorn yourself, then, with majesty and excellency,

and clothe yourself with glory and honor!

40:11 Scatter abroad the abundance of your anger.

Look at every proud man and bring him low;

40:12 Look at every proud man and abase him;

crush the wicked on the spot!

40:13 Hide them in the dust together,

imprison them in the grave.

40:14 Then I myself will acknowledge to you

that your own right hand can save you.

The Description of Behemoth

40:15 “Look now at Behemoth, which I made as I made you;

it eats grass like the ox.

40:16 Look at its strength in its loins,

and its power in the muscles of its belly.

40:17 It makes its tail stiff like a cedar,

the sinews of its thighs are tightly wound.

40:18 Its bones are tubes of bronze,

its limbs like bars of iron.

40:19 It ranks first among the works of God,

the One who made it

has furnished it with a sword.

40:20 For the hills bring it food,

where all the wild animals play.

40:21 Under the lotus trees it lies,

in the secrecy of the reeds and the marsh.

40:22 The lotus trees conceal it in their shadow;

the poplars by the stream conceal it.

40:23 If the river rages, it is not disturbed,

it is secure, though the Jordan

should surge up to its mouth.

40:24 Can anyone catch it by its eyes,

or pierce its nose with a snare?

The Description of Leviathan

41:1 (40:25) “Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook,

and tie down its tongue with a rope?

41:2 Can you put a cord through its nose,

or pierce its jaw with a hook?

41:3 Will it make numerous supplications to you,

will it speak to you with tender words?

41:4 Will it make a pact with you,

so you could take it as your slave for life?

41:5 Can you play with it, like a bird,

or tie it on a leash for your girls?

41:6 Will partners bargain for it?

Will they divide it up among the merchants?

41:7 Can you fill its hide with harpoons

or its head with fishing spears?

41:8 If you lay your hand on it,

you will remember the fight,

and you will never do it again!

41:9 (41:1) See, his expectation is wrong,

he is laid low even at the sight of it.

41:10 Is it not fierce when it is awakened?

Who is he, then, who can stand before it?

41:11 (Who has confronted me that I should repay?

Everything under heaven belongs to me!)

41:12 I will not keep silent about its limbs,

and the extent of its might,

and the grace of its arrangement.

41:13 Who can uncover its outer covering?

Who can penetrate to the inside of its armor?

41:14 Who can open the doors of its mouth?

Its teeth all around are fearsome.

41:15 Its back has rows of shields,

shut up closely together as with a seal;

41:16 each one is so close to the next

that no air can come between them.

41:17 They lock tightly together, one to the next;

they cling together and cannot be separated.

41:18 Its snorting throws out flashes of light;

its eyes are like the red glow of dawn.

41:19 Out of its mouth go flames,

sparks of fire shoot forth!

41:20 Smoke streams from its nostrils

as from a boiling pot over burning rushes.

41:21 Its breath sets coals ablaze

and a flame shoots from its mouth.

41:22 Strength lodges in its neck,

and despair runs before it.

41:23 The folds of its flesh are tightly joined;

they are firm on it, immovable.

41:24 Its heart is hard as rock,

hard as a lower millstone.

41:25 When it rises up, the mighty are terrified,

at its thrashing about they withdraw.

41:26 Whoever strikes it with a sword

will have no effect,

nor with the spear, arrow, or dart.

41:27 It regards iron as straw

and bronze as rotten wood.

41:28 Arrows do not make it flee;

slingstones become like chaff to it.

41:29 A club is counted as a piece of straw;

it laughs at the rattling of the lance.

41:30 Its underparts are the sharp points of potsherds,

it leaves its mark in the mud

like a threshing sledge.

41:31 It makes the deep boil like a cauldron

and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment,

41:32 It leaves a glistening wake behind it;

one would think the deep had a head of white hair.

41:33 The likes of it is not on earth,

a creature without fear.

41:34 It looks on every haughty being;

it is king over all that are proud.”