Job 39–41

1“Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears fawns?

2Can you count the months that they fulfill? Or do you know the time when they give birth?

3They bow themselves. They bear their young. They end their labor pains.

4Their young ones become strong. They grow up in the open field. They go out, and don’t return again.

5“Who has set the wild donkey free? Or who has loosened the bonds of the swift donkey,

6whose home I have made the wilderness, and the salt land his dwelling place?

7He scorns the tumult of the city, neither does he hear the shouting of the driver.

8The range of the mountains is his pasture. He searches after every green thing.

9“Will the wild ox be content to serve you? Or will he stay by your feeding trough?

10Can you hold the wild ox in the furrow with his harness? Or will he till the valleys after you?

11Will you trust him, because his strength is great? Or will you leave to him your labor?

12Will you confide in him, that he will bring home your seed, and gather the grain of your threshing floor?

13“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the feathers and plumage of love?

14For she leaves her eggs on the earth, warms them in the dust,

15and forgets that the foot may crush them, or that the wild animal may trample them.

16She deals harshly with her young ones, as if they were not hers. Though her labor is in vain, she is without fear,

17because God has deprived her of wisdom, neither has he imparted to her understanding.

18When she lifts up herself on high, she scorns the horse and his rider.

19“Have you given the horse might? Have you clothed his neck with a quivering mane?

20Have you made him to leap as a locust? The glory of his snorting is awesome.

21He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength. He goes out to meet the armed men.

22He mocks at fear, and is not dismayed, neither does he turn back from the sword.

23The quiver rattles against him, the flashing spear and the javelin.

24He eats up the ground with fierceness and rage, neither does he stand still at the sound of the trumpet.

25As often as the trumpet sounds he snorts, ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

26“Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and stretches her wings toward the south?

27Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up, and makes his nest on high?

28On the cliff he dwells and makes his home, on the point of the cliff and the stronghold.

29From there he spies out the prey. His eyes see it afar off.

30His young ones also suck up blood. Where the slain are, there he is.”

1Moreover Yahweh answered Job,

2“Shall he who argues contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.”

3Then Job answered Yahweh,

4“Behold, I am of small account. What will I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.

5I have spoken once, and I will not answer; Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.”

6Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind:

7“Now brace yourself like a man. I will question you, and you will answer me.

8Will you even annul my judgment? Will you condemn me, that you may be justified?

9Or do you have an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like him?

10“Now deck yourself with excellency and dignity. Array yourself with honor and majesty.

11Pour out the fury of your anger. Look at everyone who is proud, and bring him low.

12Look at everyone who is proud, and humble him. Crush the wicked in their place.

13Hide them in the dust together. Bind their faces in the hidden place.

14Then I will also admit to you that your own right hand can save you.

15“See now behemoth, which I made as well as you. He eats grass as an ox.

16Look now, his strength is in his thighs. His force is in the muscles of his belly.

17He moves his tail like a cedar. The sinews of his thighs are knit together.

18His bones are like tubes of bronze. His limbs are like bars of iron.

19He is the chief of the ways of God. He who made him gives him his sword.

20Surely the mountains produce food for him, where all the animals of the field play.

21He lies under the lotus trees, in the covert of the reed, and the marsh.

22The lotuses cover him with their shade. The willows of the brook surround him.

23Behold, if a river overflows, he doesn’t tremble. He is confident, though the Jordan swells even to his mouth.

24Shall any take him when he is on the watch, or pierce through his nose with a snare?

1“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook, or press down his tongue with a cord?

2Can you put a rope into his nose, or pierce his jaw through with a hook?

3Will he make many petitions to you, or will he speak soft words to you?

4Will he make a covenant with you, that you should take him for a servant forever?

5Will you play with him as with a bird? Or will you bind him for your girls?

6Will traders barter for him? Will they part him among the merchants?

7Can you fill his skin with barbed irons, or his head with fish spears?

8Lay your hand on him. Remember the battle, and do so no more.

9Behold, the hope of him is in vain. Won’t one be cast down even at the sight of him?

10None is so fierce that he dare stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me?

11Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Everything under the heavens is mine.

12“I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, nor his mighty strength, nor his goodly frame.

13Who can strip off his outer garment? Who will come within his jaws?

14Who can open the doors of his face? Around his teeth is terror.

15Strong scales are his pride, shut up together with a close seal.

16One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.

17They are joined to one another. They stick together, so that they can’t be pulled apart.

18His sneezing flashes out light. His eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

19Out of his mouth go burning torches. Sparks of fire leap out.

20Out of his nostrils a smoke goes, as of a boiling pot over a fire of reeds.

21His breath kindles coals. A flame goes out of his mouth.

22There is strength in his neck. Terror dances before him.

23The flakes of his flesh are joined together. They are firm on him. They can’t be moved.

24His heart is as firm as a stone, yes, firm as the lower millstone.

25When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid. They retreat before his thrashing.

26If one attacks him with the sword, it can’t prevail; nor the spear, the dart, nor the pointed shaft.

27He counts iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood.

28The arrow can’t make him flee. Sling stones are like chaff to him.

29Clubs are counted as stubble. He laughs at the rushing of the javelin.

30His undersides are like sharp potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.

31He makes the deep to boil like a pot. He makes the sea like a pot of ointment.

32He makes a path shine after him. One would think the deep had white hair.

33On earth there is not his equal, that is made without fear.

34He sees everything that is high. He is king over all the sons of pride.”