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Job Answers Bildad

26 Then Job answered:

“You are no help to a person who has no strength!
    You have given no help to one whose arm is weak!
You have given advice to me as if I had no wisdom!
    This is not great wisdom you have shown!
Who has helped you say these words?
    And where did you get these words you speak?

“The spirits of the dead beneath the waters shake.
    And so do those that live in the waters.
Death is naked before God.
    Destruction is uncovered before him.
God stretches the northern sky out over empty space.
    And he hangs the earth on nothing.
God wraps up the waters in his thick clouds.
    But the clouds do not break under the weight of the water.
God covers the face of the full moon.
    He spreads his clouds over it.
10 God draws the horizon like a circle on the water
    at the place where light and darkness meet.
11 Heaven’s foundations shake
    when he thunders at them.
12 God’s power controls the sea.
    By his wisdom he destroyed Rahab, the sea monster.
13 God breathes, and the sky becomes clear.
    God’s hand stabs the gliding snake.
14 And these are only a small part of God’s works.
    We only hear a small whisper of him.
    So who can understand God’s thundering power?”

Job Reasons with Bildad

26 In reply, Job responded:

“What a help you are to the weak!
    How powerfully you deliver those without strength!
What counsel you provide to the fool!
    What insight you provide so abundantly!
Who helped you say all of this?
    Who inspired you?”

Job Acknowledges God’s Power

“The ghosts of the dead[a] writhe under the waters
    along with those who live there with them.
Sheol[b] is naked before God[c]
    and Abaddon[d] has no clothes.
He spreads out the north over empty space,
    suspending the earth over nothing.

“He restricts the waters within clouds
    and the clouds don’t burst open under them.
He has enclosed the face of the full moon
    and spread his clouds over it.
10 He has delimited a boundary[e] over the surface of the oceans
    as a limit between light and darkness.
11 The pillars of the heavens tremble
    and are astounded at his rebuke.
12 By his power he disturbs the sea;
    and with his skill he shatters the sea monster.[f]
13 He clears the skies with his wind;
    his hands have pierced the fleeing serpent.
14 Indeed, these are the fringes of his ways,
    and how faint is the whisper we’ve heard of it!
        But who can comprehend the thunder of his might?”

Footnotes

  1. Job 26:5 Lit. Rephaim; i.e., souls of the dead
  2. Job 26:6 I.e. the realm of the afterlife
  3. Job 26:6 Lit. him
  4. Job 26:6 I.e. the realm of punishment in the afterlife
  5. Job 26:10 Lit. statute
  6. Job 26:12 Lit. shattered Rahab