Job 38-40
Complete Jewish Bible
38 Then Adonai answered Iyov out of the storm:
2 “Who is this, darkening my plans
with his ignorant words?
3 Stand up like a man, and brace yourself;
I will ask questions; and you, give the answers!
4 “Where were you when I founded the earth?
Tell me, if you know so much.
5 Do you know who determined its dimensions
or who stretched the measuring line across it?
6 On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,
7 when the morning stars sang together,
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 “Who shut up the sea behind closed doors
when it gushed forth from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its blanket
and dense fog its swaddling cloth,
10 when I made the breakers its boundary
set its gates and bars,
11 and said, ‘You may come this far, but no farther;
here your proud waves must stop’?
12 “Have you ever in your life called up the dawn
and made the morning know its place,
13 so that it could take hold of the edges of the earth
and shake the wicked out of it?
14 Then the earth is changed like clay under a seal,
until its colors are fixed like those of a garment.
15 But from the wicked the light is withheld,
and the arm raised [to strike] is broken.
16 “Have you gone down to the springs of the sea
or explored the limits of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
the gates of death-like darkness?
18 Have you surveyed the full extent of the earth?
Say so, if you know it all!
19 “Which way leads to where light has its home?
and darkness, where does it dwell?
20 If you knew, you could take each to its place
and set it on its homeward path.
21 You know, of course, because you were born then;
by now you must be very old!
22 “Have you gone into the storehouses for snow
or seen the storehouses for hail,
23 which I save for times of trouble,
for days of battle and war?
24 “By what path is light dispersed,
or the east wind poured out on the land?
25 Who cut a channel for the downpours,
or a way for the lightning and thunder,
26 causing it to rain where no one is,
in a desert without anyone there,
27 drenching the waste and desolate [ground],
till the tender grass sprouts?
28 Does the rain have a father?
Who is the father of dewdrops?
29 From whose womb does ice come?
Who gives birth to the frost of heaven,
30 when water becomes as hard as stone,
and the surface of the deep freezes solid?
31 “Can you tie up the cords of the Pleiades
or loosen the belt of Orion?
32 Can you lead out the constellations of the zodiac in their season
or guide the Great Bear and its cubs?
33 Do you know the laws of the sky?
Can you determine how they affect the earth?
34 “Can you raise your voice to the clouds
and make them cover you with a flood of rain?
35 Can you send lightning bolts on their way?
Will they say to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 “Who put wisdom in people’s inner parts?
Who gave understanding to the mind?
37 Who, by wisdom, can number the clouds?
Who can tilt the water-skins of heaven,
38 so that the dust becomes a mass [of mud],
and its clods stick together?
39 “Can you hunt prey for a lioness
or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40 when they crouch in their dens
or lie in ambush in their lairs?
41 Who provides food for the raven
when his young cry out to God
and wander about for lack of food?
39 “Do you know when mountain goats give birth?
Have you seen deer in labor?
2 Can you tell how many months they carry their young?
Do you know when they give birth,
3 when they crouch down and bring forth their young,
when they deliver their fawns?
4 Their young become strong, growing up in the open;
they leave and never return.
5 “Who lets the wild donkey roam freely?
Who sets the wild donkey loose from its shackles?
6 I made the ‘Aravah its home,
the salty desert its place to live.
7 It scorns the noise of the city
and hears no driver’s shouts.
8 It ranges over the hills for its pasture,
searching for anything green.
9 “Would a wild ox be willing to serve you?
Would it stay by your stall?
10 Could you tie a rope around its neck
and make it plow furrows for you?
11 Would you trust its great strength enough
to let it do your heavy work,
12 or rely on it to bring home your seed
and gather the grain from your threshing-floor?
13 “An ostrich’s wings beat wildly,
although its pinions lack plumage.
14 It leaves its eggs on the ground
and lets them be warmed by the sand,
15 forgetting that a foot may crush them
or a wild animal trample on them.
16 It treats its chicks heartlessly,
as if they were not its own;
even if her labor is in vain,
it really doesn’t care;
17 because God has deprived it of wisdom
and given it no share in understanding.
18 When the time comes, it flaps its wings,
scorning both horse and rider.
19 “Did you give the horse its strength?
Did you clothe its neck with a mane?
20 Did you make him able to leap like a locust?
Its majestic snorting is frightening!
21 It paws with force and exults with vigor,
then charges into the battle;
22 mocking at fear, unafraid,
it does not shy away from the sword.
23 The [rider’s] quiver rattles over it,
[his] gleaming spear and javelin.
24 Frenzied and eager, it devours the ground,
scarcely believing the shofar has sounded.
25 At the sound of the shofar it whinnies;
as from afar it scents the battle,
the roar of the chiefs and the shouting.
26 “Is it your wisdom that sets the hawk soaring,
spreading its wings toward the south?
27 Does the eagle fly up when you say so,
to build its nest in the heights?
28 It lives and spends its nights on the cliffs;
a rocky crag is its fortress.
29 From there it spots its prey,
its eyes see it far off.
30 Its young ones suck up blood;
wherever the slain are, there it is.”
40 Continuing to address Iyov, Adonai said:
2 “Does the critic still want to dispute Shaddai?
Let him who wants to correct God give an answer!”
3 Then Iyov replied to Adonai:
4 “I am too ashamed; I have nothing to say.
I lay my hand over my mouth.
5 Yes, I spoke once, but I won’t answer more;
all right, twice, but I won’t go on.”
6 Adonai answered Iyov out of the storm:
7 “Stand up like a man, and brace yourself;
I will ask questions; and you, give the answers!
8 “Are you impugning my justice?
Putting me in the wrong to prove yourself right?
9 Do you have an arm like God’s?
Can you thunder with a voice like his?
10 Come on, deck yourself with majesty and dignity,
robe yourself in glory and splendor.
11 Let loose your furious anger,
look at all who are proud, and humble them.
12 Look at all who are proud, and bring them down;
tread down the wicked where they stand.
13 Bury them in the ground together,
bind their faces in the hidden world.
14 If you do this, then I will confess to you
that your own power can save you.
15 “Now consider Behemot, whom I made along with you.
He eats grass like an ox.
16 What strength he has in his loins!
What power in his stomach muscles!
17 He can make his tail as stiff as a cedar,
the muscles in his thighs are like cables,
18 his bones are like bronze pipes,
his limbs like iron bars.
19 “He ranks first among God’s works.
Only his maker can approach him with his sword.
20 The mountains produce food for him there,
where all the wild animals play.
21 He lies down under the thorny lotus bushes
and is hidden by the reeds in the swamp;
22 the lotus bushes cover him with their shade,
and the willows by the stream surround him.
23 If the river overflows, it doesn’t worry him;
he is confident even if the Yarden rushes by his mouth.
24 Can anyone catch him by his eyes
or pierce his nose with a hook?
25 (41:1) “And Livyatan! Can you catch him with a fishhook
or hold his tongue down with a rope?
26 (41:2) Can you put a ring in his nose
or pierce his jaw with a barb?
27 (41:3) Will he entreat you at length?
Will he speak with you softly?
28 (41:4) Will he agree with you
to be your slave forever?
29 (41:5) Will you play with him as you would with a bird
or keep him on a string to amuse your little girls?
30 (41:6) Will a group of fishermen turn him into a banquet?
Will they divide him among the merchants?
31 (41:7) Can you fill his skin with darts
or his head with fish-spears?
32 (41:8) If you lay your hand on him,
you won’t forget the fight, and you’ll never do it again!
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
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