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The Lord Challenges Job Again

40 The Lord continued his response to Job by saying:

“Should the one who is fighting the Almighty find fault with him?[a]
    Let God’s accuser answer.”

Job Acknowledges His Limitations

Then Job replied to the Lord. He said:

“I must look insignificant to you!
    How can I answer you?
        I’m speechless.[b]
I spoke once,
    but I can’t answer;
I tried[c] a second time,
    but I won’t do so anymore.”

The Lord Continues to Interrogate Job

The Lord answered Job from the wind storm and told him:

“Stand up[d] like a man!
    I’ll ask you some questions,
        and you give me some answers!
Indeed would you annul my justice and condemn me,
    just so you can claim that you’re righteous?
Do you have strength[e] like God?
    Can you create thunder with a sound[f] like he can?”

Can You Save Yourself?

10 “When you have adorned yourself with exalted majesty,
    clothed yourself with splendor and dignity,[g]
11 dispensed the fury of your anger,
    made sure[h] that you have humbled every proud person,
12 stared down and subdued every proud person,
    trampled the wicked right where they are,
13 buried[i] them in the dust together,
    and sent them bound to that secret place,[j]
14 then I will applaud you myself!
    I’ll admit that you can deliver yourself by your own efforts!”

On Behemoth

15 “Please observe[k] Behemoth,[l] which I made along with you.
    He eats grass like an ox.
16 Now take a look at the strength that he has in his loins,
    and in the muscles of his abdomen.
17 His tail protrudes stiffly, like cedar;[m]
    the sinews of his thigh interlink for strength.
18 His bones are conduits[n] of bronze;[o]
    his strong bones are like bars of iron.
19 He is the grandest[p] of God’s undertakings,[q]
    yet his creator is approaching him with his sword.[r]

20 Mountains produce food for him,
    where all the wild animals frolic.
21 He lies under the lotus trees,
    hiding under reeds and marshes.[s]
22 The lotus trees cover him with their shade,
    and willows that line the wadis[t] surround him.
23 What you see as a raging river doesn’t alarm him;
    he is confident when the Jordan overflows.
24 Are your eyes looking to capture him,
    or to pierce his snout with a bridle?”

Footnotes

  1. Job 40:2 The Heb. lacks him
  2. Job 40:4 Lit. I put my hand over my mouth
  3. Job 40:5 The Heb. lacks tried
  4. Job 40:7 Lit. Gird up your loins
  5. Job 40:9 Lit. have an arm
  6. Job 40:9 Lit. voice
  7. Job 40:10 Lit. splendor and majesty
  8. Job 40:11 Lit. see
  9. Job 40:13 MT reads hide
  10. Job 40:13 I.e. the afterlife
  11. Job 40:15 Lit. look
  12. Job 40:15 I.e. an ancient, gigantic herbivore, living in Job’s time but now apparently extinct
  13. Job 40:17 I.e. a genus of coniferous evergreen in the family Pinaceae
  14. Job 40:18 Or channels
  15. Job 40:18 Or copper
  16. Job 40:19 Or first
  17. Job 40:19 Lit. ways
  18. Job 40:19 I.e. God was about to make Behemoth extinct
  19. Job 40:21 Lit. reed and marsh
  20. Job 40:22 I.e. seasonal streams that channel water during rain seasons but are dry at other times