Job 36:26-41:6

Living Bible

²⁶ “God is so great that we cannot begin to know him. No one can begin to understand eternity. ²⁷ He draws up the water vapor and then distills it into rain, ²⁸ which the skies pour down. ²⁹ Can anyone really understand the spreading of the clouds and the thunders within? ³⁰ See how he spreads the lightning around him, and blankets the tops of the mountains. ³¹ By his fantastic powers in nature he punishes or blesses the people, giving them food in abundance. ³² He fills his hands with lightning bolts. He hurls each at its target. ³³ We feel his presence in the thunder. Even the cattle know when a storm is coming.

37 “My heart trembles at this. ² Listen, listen to the thunder of his voice. ³ It rolls across the heavens and his lightning flashes out in every direction. ⁴ Afterwards comes the roaring of the thunder—the tremendous voice of his majesty. ⁵ His voice is glorious in the thunder. We cannot comprehend the greatness of his power. ⁶ For he directs the snow, the showers, and storm to fall upon the earth. ⁷ Man’s work stops at such a time so that all men everywhere may recognize his power. ⁸ The wild animals hide in the rocks or in their dens.

⁹ “From the south comes the rain; from the north, the cold. ¹⁰ God blows upon the rivers, and even the widest torrents freeze. ¹¹ He loads the clouds with moisture, and they send forth his lightning. ¹² The lightning bolts are directed by his hand and do whatever he commands throughout the earth. ¹³ He sends the storms^[a] as punishment or, in his loving-kindness, to encourage.

¹⁴ “Listen, O Job, stop and consider the wonderful miracles of God. ¹⁵ Do you know how God controls all nature and causes the lightning to flash forth from the clouds? ^16-17 Do you understand the balancing of the clouds with wonderful perfection and skill? Do you know why you become warm when the south wind is blowing and everything is still? ¹⁸ Can you spread out the gigantic mirror of the skies as he does?

^19-20 “You who think you know so much,^[b] teach the rest of us how we should approach God. For we are too dull to know! With your wisdom, would we then dare to approach him? Well, does a man wish to be swallowed alive? ²¹ For as we cannot look at the sun for its brightness when the winds have cleared away the clouds, ²² neither can we gaze at the terrible majesty of God breaking forth upon us from heaven, clothed in dazzling splendor. ²³ We cannot imagine the power of the Almighty, and yet he is so just and merciful that he does not destroy us. ²⁴ No wonder men everywhere fear him! For he is not impressed by the world’s wisest men!”

38 Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:

² “Why are you using your ignorance to deny my providence? ³ Now get ready to fight, for I am going to demand some answers from you, and you must reply.

⁴ “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. ⁵ Do you know how its dimensions were determined, and who did the surveying? ^6-7 What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

^8-9 “Who decreed the boundaries of the seas when they gushed from the depths? Who clothed them with clouds and thick darkness ¹⁰ and barred them by limiting their shores, ¹¹ and said, ‘Thus far and no farther shall you come, and here shall your proud waves stop’?

¹² “Have you ever once commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east? ¹³ Have you ever told the daylight to spread to the ends of the earth, to end the night’s wickedness? ¹⁴ Have you ever robed the dawn in red, ¹⁵ and disturbed the haunts of wicked men, and stopped the arm raised to strike?

¹⁶ “Have you explored the springs from which the seas come, or walked in the sources of their depths? ^17-18 Has the location of the gates of death been revealed to you? Do you realize the extent of the earth? Tell me about it if you know! ¹⁹ Where does the light come from, and how do you get there? Or tell me about the darkness. Where does it come from? ²⁰ Can you find its boundaries, or go to its source? ²¹ But of course you know all this! For you were born before it was all created, and you are so very experienced!

^22-23 “Have you visited the treasuries of the snow, or seen where hail is made and stored? For I have reserved it for the time when I will need it in war. ²⁴ Where is the path to the distribution point of light? Where is the home of the east wind? ^25-27 Who dug the valleys for the torrents of rain? Who laid out the path for the lightning, causing the rain to fall upon the barren deserts, so that the parched and barren ground is satisfied with water and tender grass springs up?

²⁸ “Has the rain a father? Where does dew come from? ²⁹ Who is the mother of the ice and frost? ³⁰ For the water changes and turns to ice as hard as rock.

³¹ “Can you hold back the stars? Can you restrain Orion or Pleiades? ³² Can you ensure the proper sequence of the seasons, or guide the constellation of the Bear with her satellites across the heavens? ³³ Do you know the laws of the universe and how the heavens influence the earth? ³⁴ Can you shout to the clouds and make it rain? ³⁵ Can you make lightning appear and cause it to strike as you direct it?

³⁶ “Who gives intuition and instinct?^{[c] 37-38} Who is wise enough to number all the clouds? Who can tilt the water jars of heaven, when everything is dust and clods? ^39-40 Can you stalk prey like a lioness, to satisfy the young lions’ appetites as they lie in their dens or lie in wait in the jungle? ⁴¹ Who provides for the ravens when their young cry out to God as they try to struggle up from their nest in hunger?

39 “Do you know how mountain goats give birth? Have you ever seen them giving birth to their young? ^2-3 Do you know how many months of pregnancy they have before they bow themselves to give birth to their young and carry their burden no longer? ⁴ Their young grow up in the open field, then leave their parents and return to them no more.

⁵ “Who makes the wild donkeys wild? ⁶ I have placed them in the wilderness and given them salt plains to live in. ⁷ For they hate the noise of the city and want no drivers shouting at them! ⁸ The mountain ranges are their pastureland; there they search for every blade of grass.

⁹ “Will the wild ox be your happy servant? Will he stay beside your feeding crib? ¹⁰ Can you use a wild ox to plow with? Will he pull the harrow for you? ¹¹ Because he is so strong, will you trust him? Will you let him decide where to work? ¹² Can you send him out to bring in the grain from the threshing floor?

¹³ “The ostrich flaps her wings grandly but has no true motherly love. ¹⁴ She lays her eggs on top of the earth, to warm them in the dust. ¹⁵ She forgets that someone may step on them and crush them, or the wild animals destroy them. ¹⁶ She ignores her young as though they weren’t her own and is unconcerned though they die, ¹⁷ for God has deprived her of wisdom. ¹⁸ But whenever she jumps up to run, she passes the swiftest horse with its rider.

¹⁹ “Have you given the horse strength or clothed his neck with a quivering mane? ²⁰ Have you made him able to leap forward like a locust? His majestic snorting is something to hear! ^21-23 He paws the earth and rejoices in his strength, and when he goes to war, he is unafraid and does not run away though the arrows rattle against him, or the flashing spear and javelin. ²⁴ Fiercely he paws the ground and rushes forward into battle when the trumpet blows. ²⁵ At the sound of the bugle he shouts, ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle when far away. He rejoices at the shouts of battle and the roar of the captain’s commands.

²⁶ “Do you know how a hawk soars and spreads her wings to the south? ²⁷ Is it at your command that the eagle rises high upon the cliffs to make her nest? ²⁸ She lives upon the cliffs, making her home in her mountain fortress. ²⁹ From there she spies her prey, from a very great distance. ³⁰ Her nestlings gulp down blood, for she goes wherever the slain are.”

40 The Lord went on:

² “Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? Or will you yield? Do you—God’s critic—have the answers?”

³ Then Job replied to God:

⁴ “I am nothing—how could I ever find the answers? I lay my hand upon my mouth in silence. ⁵ I have said too much already.”

⁶ Then the Lord spoke to Job again from the whirlwind:

⁷ “Stand up like a man and brace yourself for battle. Let me ask you a question, and give me the answer. ⁸ Are you going to discredit my justice and condemn me so that you can say you are right? ⁹ Are you as strong as God, and can you shout as loudly as he? ¹⁰ All right then, put on your robes of state, your majesty and splendor. ¹¹ Give vent to your anger. Let it overflow against the proud. ¹² Humiliate the haughty with a glance; tread down the wicked where they stand. ¹³ Knock them into the dust, stone-faced in death. ¹⁴ If you can do that, then I’ll agree with you that your own strength can save you.

¹⁵ “Take a look at the hippopotamus!^[d] I made him, too, just as I made you! He eats grass like an ox. ¹⁶ See his powerful loins and the muscles of his belly. ¹⁷ His tail is as straight as a cedar. The sinews of his thighs are tightly knit together. ¹⁸ His vertebrae lie straight as a tube of brass. His ribs are like iron bars. ¹⁹ How ferocious he is among all of God’s creation, so let whoever hopes to master him bring a sharp sword! ²⁰ The mountains offer their best food to him—the other wild animals on which he preys. ²¹ He lies down under the lotus plants, hidden by the reeds, ²² covered by their shade among the willows there beside the stream. ²³ He is not disturbed by raging rivers, not even when the swelling Jordan rushes down upon him. ²⁴ No one can catch him off guard or put a ring in his nose and lead him away.

41 “Can you catch a crocodile^[e] with a hook and line? Or put a noose around his tongue? ² Can you tie him with a rope through the nose, or pierce his jaw with a spike? ³ Will he beg you to desist or try to flatter you from your intentions? ⁴ Will he agree to let you make him your slave for life? ⁵ Can you make a pet of him like a bird, or give him to your little girls to play with? ⁶ Do fishing partners sell him to the fishmongers?