Job 40
Evangelical Heritage Version
The Lord Confronts Job
40 The Lord responded to Job and said:
2 Will the one who makes charges against the Almighty
dare to correct him?
The one who accuses God should make his case!
3 Job answered the Lord and said:
4 No, I am insignificant.[a]
How could I reply to you?
I will put my hand over my mouth.
5 I spoke once, but I cannot defend it.
Twice, but I will not go any further.
6 Then the Lord answered Job from the violent storm. He said:
7 Get ready for action like a man!
Then I will ask you questions,
and you will inform me.
8 Will you really deny that I am just?
Will you convict me, so that you can be acquitted?
9 Do you have an arm like God’s arm?
Does your voice thunder like his?
10 Go ahead, please. Adorn yourself with dignity and honor.
Clothe yourself with splendor and majesty.
11 Pour out your overflowing anger.
Look at every proud man and bring him low.
12 Look at every proud man and humble him.
Trample the wicked where they stand.
13 Bury them all together in the dust.
Cover their faces in the hidden place.
14 Then I will praise you
and admit that your right hand can save you.
Behemoth
15 Take a look at Behemoth,[b]
which I made just as I made you.
He eats grass like cattle.
16 Would you look at the power of his hips
and the strength of the muscles of his belly!
17 He stiffens his tail[c] like a cedar.
The tendons of his thighs[d] are tight.
18 His bones are tubes of bronze.
His skeleton is like bars of iron.
19 He stands at the head of God’s creatures,
but his Maker draws near with his sword.[e]
20 Yes, the mountains carry their floodwaters[f] to him.
All the wild animals play there.
21 He lies under the lotus plants,
hidden among the reeds in the marsh.
22 The lotus plants cover him with their shadows.
Poplars by the stream surround him.
23 The river rages, but he is not frightened.
He remains calm even if the Jordan bursts into his mouth.
24 Can people capture him by his eyes?
Can they pierce his nose with a hook?
Footnotes
- Job 40:4 Or not worthy
- Job 40:15 Or the Beast. This is a poetic description, which does not exactly match any known animal, though the hippopotamus has been suggested as the closest match. Other suggestions are the elephant or some form of dinosaur.
- Job 40:17 Or penis. The Hebrew word zanav, which most often means tail, can be used as a euphemism for penis.
- Job 40:17 Or testicles. The Targum, the Vulgate, Luther, and the King James Version all support the interpretation testicles.
- Job 40:19 Or his Maker provided him with his sword
- Job 40:20 Or food. The word occurs only here. The translation accepts the view that it is derived from a verb that means flow violently. Many translations accept a derivation from a verb that means produce.
Job 42
Evangelical Heritage Version
Job’s Confession
42 Job responded to the Lord. He said:
2 I know that you can do all things.
No purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3 You asked, “Who is this who spreads darkness over my plans
with his ignorant words?”
I have made statements about things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.
4 You said, “Listen now and I will speak.
I will ask you questions, and you will inform me.”
5 My ear heard about you.
Now my eyes see you.
6 So I despise myself.
I repent in dust and ashes.
The Conclusion
7 After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My anger burns against you and your two friends, because none of you have spoken correctly about me, as my servant Job did. 8 So now, take seven bulls and seven rams for yourselves, go to my servant Job, and offer up a whole burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, so that I will look upon him with favor and not deal with you on the basis of your foolishness, for none of you have spoken correctly about me, as my servant Job did.”
9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Na’amathite went and did as the Lord had told them, and the Lord looked on Job with favor.
10 Then the Lord restored Job’s fortunes, after he had prayed on behalf of his friends. The Lord gave Job twice as much of everything as he had before.
11 Then all his brothers and sisters and all his acquaintances came to Job. They dined with him in his house, and they showed him sympathy and comforted him concerning the tragedy that the Lord had brought on him. Each of them gave him one qesitah[a] of silver and one gold ring.
12 The Lord blessed the last part of Job’s life more than the first part, so he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys.
13 He had seven sons and three daughters. 14 He named his first daughter Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren Happuk. 15 In the whole land there were no women as beautiful as the daughters of Job. Their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
16 After this, Job lived one hundred forty years and saw his sons and their children to the fourth generation.
17 Job died, old and fulfilled by a long life.
Footnotes
- Job 42:11 A qesitah is an ancient unit for measuring weight. Its value is unknown.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.