36
Who put wisdom in the heart
or gave the mind understanding?
37
Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?
Or who can tilt the water jars of heaven
38
when the dust hardens like cast metal
and the clods of dirt stick together?
39
Can you hunt prey for a lioness
or satisfy the appetite of young lions
40
when they crouch in their dens
and lie in wait within their lairs?
41
Who provides the raven's food
when its young cry out to God
and wander about for lack of food?
Job
39
Do you know when mountain goats give birth?
Have you watched the deer in labor?
2
Can you count the months they are pregnant
so you can know the time they give birth?
3
They crouch down to give birth to their young;
they deliver their newborn.
4
Their offspring are healthy and grow up in the open field.
They leave and do not return.
5
Who set the wild donkey free?
Who released the swift donkey from its harness?
6
I made the wilderness its home,
and the salty wasteland its dwelling.
7
It scoffs at the noise of the village
and never hears the shouts of a driver.
8
It roams the mountains for its pastureland,
searching for anything green.
9
Would the wild ox be willing to serve you?
Would it spend the night by your feeding trough?
10
Can you hold the wild ox to a furrow by its harness?
Will it plow the valleys behind you?
11
Can you depend on it because its strength is great?
Would you leave it to do your hard work?
12
Can you trust the wild ox to harvest your grain
and bring it to your threshing floor?
13
The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,
but are her feathers and plumage like the stork's?
14
She abandons her eggs on the ground
and lets them be warmed in the sand.
15
She forgets that a foot may crush them
or that some wild animal may trample them.
16
She treats her young harshly, as if they were not her own,
with no fear that her labor may have been in vain.
17
For God has deprived her of wisdom;
He has not endowed her with understanding.
18
When she proudly spreads her wings,
she laughs at the horse and its rider.
19
Do you give strength to the horse?
Do you adorn his neck with a mane?
20
Do you make him leap like a locust?
His proud snorting fills one with terror.
21
He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength;
He charges into battle.
22
He laughs at fear, since he is afraid of nothing;
he does not run from the sword.
23
A quiver rattles at his side,
along with a flashing spear and a lance.
24
He charges ahead with trembling rage;
he cannot stand still at the trumpet's sound.
25
When the trumpet blasts, he snorts defiantly.
He smells the battle from a distance;
he hears the officers' shouts and the battle cry.
26
Does the hawk take flight by your understanding
and spread its wings to the south?
27
Does the eagle soar at your command
and make its nest on high?
28
It lives on a cliff where it spends the night;
its stronghold is on a rocky crag.
29
From there it searches for prey;
its eyes penetrate the distance.
30
Its brood gulps down blood,
and where the slain are, it is there.
Job
40
The
Lord
answered Job:
2
Will the one who contends with the
•Almighty
correct Him?
Let him who argues with God give an answer.
3
Then Job answered the
Lord
:
4
I am so insignificant. How can I answer You?
I place my hand over my mouth.
5
I have spoken once, and I will not reply;
twice, but now I can add nothing.
6
Then the
Lord
answered Job from the whirlwind:
7
Get ready to answer Me like a man;
When I question you, you will inform Me.
8
Would you really challenge My justice?
Would you declare Me
•guilty
to justify yourself?
9
Do you have an arm like God's?
Can you thunder with a voice like His?
10
Adorn yourself with majesty and splendor,
and clothe yourself with honor and glory.
11
Unleash your raging anger;
look on every proud person and humiliate him.
12
Look on every proud person and humble him;
trample the wicked where they stand.
13
Hide them together in the dust;
imprison them in the grave.
14
Then I will confess to you
that your own right hand can deliver you.
15
Look at Behemoth,
which I made along with you.
He eats grass like an ox.
16
Look at the strength of his loins
and the power in the muscles of his belly.
17
He stiffens his tail like a cedar tree;
the tendons of his thighs are woven firmly together.
18
His bones are bronze tubes;
his limbs are like iron rods.
19
He is the foremost of God's works;
only his Maker can draw the sword against him.
20
The hills yield food for him,
while all sorts of wild animals play there.
21
He lies under the lotus plants,
hiding in the protection of marshy reeds.
22
Lotus plants cover him with their shade;
the willows by the brook surround him.
23
Though the river rages, Behemoth is unafraid;
he remains confident, even if the Jordan surges up to his mouth.
24
Can anyone capture him while he looks on,
or pierce his nose with snares?
Job
Chapter 41
1
Can you pull in
•Leviathan
with a hook
or tie his tongue down with a rope?
2
Can you put a cord through his nose
or pierce his jaw with a hook?
3
Will he beg you for mercy
or speak softly to you?
4
Will he make a covenant with you
so that you can take him as a slave forever?
5
Can you play with him like a bird
or put him on a leash for your girls?
6
Will traders bargain for him
or divide him among the merchants?
7
Can you fill his hide with harpoons
or his head with fishing spears?
8
Lay a hand on him.
You will remember the battle
and never repeat it!
9
Any hope of capturing him proves false.
Does a person not collapse at the very sight of him?
10
No one is ferocious enough to rouse Leviathan;
who then can stand against Me?
11
Who confronted Me, that I should repay him?
Everything under heaven belongs to Me.
12
I cannot be silent about his limbs,
his power, and his graceful proportions.
13
Who can strip off his outer covering?
Who can penetrate his double layer of armor?
14
Who can open his jaws,
surrounded by those terrifying teeth?
15
His pride is in his rows of scales,
closely sealed together.
16
One scale is so close to another
that no air can pass between them.
17
They are joined to one another,
so closely connected they cannot be separated.
18
His snorting flashes with light,
while his eyes are like the rays of dawn.
19
Flaming torches shoot from his mouth;
fiery sparks fly out!
20
Smoke billows from his nostrils
as from a boiling pot or burning reeds.
21
His breath sets coals ablaze,
and flames pour out of his mouth.
22
Strength resides in his neck,
and dismay dances before him.
23
The folds of his flesh are joined together,
solid as metal and immovable.
24
His heart is as hard as a rock,
as hard as a lower millstone!
25
When Leviathan rises, the mighty are terrified;
they withdraw because of his thrashing.
26
The sword that reaches him will have no effect,
nor will a spear, dart, or arrow.
27
He regards iron as straw,
and bronze as rotten wood.
28
No arrow can make him flee;
slingstones become like stubble to him.
29
A club is regarded as stubble,
and he laughs at the sound of a javelin.
30
His undersides are jagged potsherds,
spreading the mud like a threshing sledge.
31
He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron;
he makes the sea like an ointment jar.
32
He leaves a shining wake behind him;
one would think the deep had gray hair!
33
He has no equal on earth —
a creature devoid of fear!
34
He surveys everything that is haughty;
he is king over all the proud beasts.
Job
Job Replies to the
Lord
42
Then Job replied to the
Lord
:
2
I know that You can do anything
and no plan of Yours can be thwarted.
3
You asked, “Who is this who conceals My counsel with ignorance? ”
Surely I spoke about things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.
4
You said, “Listen now, and I will speak.
When I question you, you will inform Me.”
5
I had heard rumors about You,
but now my eyes have seen You.
6
Therefore I take back my words
and repent in dust and ashes.
7
After the
Lord
had finished speaking to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken the truth about Me, as My servant Job has.
8
Now take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you. I will surely accept his prayer and not deal with you as your folly deserves. For you have not spoken the truth about Me, as My servant Job has.”
9
Then 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 prayer.
God Restores Job
10
After Job had prayed for his friends, the
Lord
restored his prosperity and doubled his previous possessions.
11
All his brothers, sisters, and former acquaintances came to his house and dined with him in his house. They sympathized with him and comforted him concerning all the adversity the
Lord
had brought on him. Each one gave him a
qesitah
and a gold earring.
12
So the
Lord
blessed the last part of Job's life more than the first. He owned 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.
13
He also had seven sons and three daughters.
14
He named his first daughter Jemimah, his second Keziah, and his third Keren-happuch.
15
No women as beautiful as Job's daughters could be found in all the land, and their father granted them an inheritance with their brothers.