37:1 At this also my heart pounds
and leaps from its place.
37:2 Listen carefully to the thunder of his voice,
to the rumbling that proceeds from his mouth.
37:3 Under the whole heaven he lets it go,
even his lightning to the far corners of the earth.
37:4 After that a voice roars;
he thunders with an exalted voice,
and he does not hold back his lightning bolts
when his voice is heard.
37:5 God thunders with his voice in marvelous ways;
he does great things beyond our understanding.
37:6 For to the snow he says, ‘Fall to earth,’
and to the torrential rains, ‘Pour down.’
37:7 He causes everyone to stop working,
so that all people may know his work.
37:8 The wild animals go to their lairs,
and in their dens they remain.
37:9 A tempest blows out from its chamber,
icy cold from the driving winds.
37:10 The breath of God produces ice,
and the breadth of the waters freeze solid.
37:11 He loads the clouds with moisture;
he scatters his lightning through the clouds.
37:12 The clouds go round in circles,
wheeling about according to his plans,
to carry out all that he commands them
over the face of the whole inhabited world.
37:13 Whether it is for punishment for his land,
or whether it is for mercy,
he causes it to find its mark.
37:14 “Pay attention to this, Job!
Stand still and consider the wonders God works.
37:15 Do you know how God commands them,
how he makes lightning flash in his storm cloud?
37:16 Do you know about the balancing of the clouds,
that wondrous activity of him who is perfect in knowledge?
37:17 You, whose garments are hot
when the earth is still because of the south wind,
37:18 will you, with him, spread out the clouds,
solid as a mirror of molten metal?
37:19 Tell us what we should say to him.
We cannot prepare a case
because of the darkness.
37:20 Should he be informed that I want to speak?
If a man speaks, surely he would be swallowed up!
37:21 But now, the sun cannot be looked at –
it is bright in the skies –
after a wind passed and swept the clouds away.
37:22 From the north he comes in golden splendor;
around God is awesome majesty.
37:23 As for the Almighty, we cannot attain to him!
He is great in power,
but justice and abundant righteousness he does not oppress.
37:24 Therefore people fear him,
for he does not regard all the wise in heart.”
VI. The Divine Speeches (38:1-42:6)
The Lord’s First Speech38:1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
38:2 “Who is this who darkens counsel
with words without knowledge?
38:3 Get ready for a difficult task like a man;
I will question you
and you will inform me!
38:4 “Where were you
when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you possess understanding!
38:5 Who set its measurements – if you know –
or who stretched a measuring line across it?
38:6 On what were its bases set,
or who laid its cornerstone –
38:7 when the morning stars sang in chorus,
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
38:8 “Who shut up the sea with doors
when it burst forth, coming out of the womb,
38:9 when I made the storm clouds its garment,
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
38:10 when I prescribed its limits,
and set in place its bolts and doors,
38:11 when I said, ‘To here you may come
and no farther,
here your proud waves will be confined’?
38:12 Have you ever in your life commanded the morning,
or made the dawn know its place,
38:13 that it might seize the corners of the earth,
and shake the wicked out of it?
38:14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
its features are dyed like a garment.
38:15 Then from the wicked the light is withheld,
and the arm raised in violence is broken.
38:16 Have you gone to the springs that fill the sea,
or walked about in the recesses of the deep?
38:17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you?
Have you seen the gates of deepest darkness?
38:18 Have you considered the vast expanses of the earth?
Tell me, if you know it all!
38:19 “In what direction does light reside,
and darkness, where is its place,
38:20 that you may take them to their borders
and perceive the pathways to their homes?
38:21 You know, for you were born before them;
and the number of your days is great!
38:22 Have you entered the storehouse of the snow,
or seen the armory of the hail,
38:23 which I reserve for the time of trouble,
for the day of war and battle?
38:24 In what direction is lightning dispersed,
or the east winds scattered over the earth?
38:25 Who carves out a channel for the heavy rains,
and a path for the rumble of thunder,
38:26 to cause it to rain on an uninhabited land,
a desert where there are no human beings,
38:27 to satisfy a devastated and desolate land,
and to cause it to sprout with vegetation?
38:28 Does the rain have a father,
or who has fathered the drops of the dew?
38:29 From whose womb does the ice emerge,
and the frost from the sky, who gives birth to it,
38:30 when the waters become hard like stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen solid?
38:31 Can you tie the bands of the Pleiades,
or release the cords of Orion?
38:32 Can you lead out
the constellations in their seasons,
or guide the Bear with its cubs?
38:33 Do you know the laws of the heavens,
or can you set up their rule over the earth?
38:34 Can you raise your voice to the clouds
so that a flood of water covers you?
38:35 Can you send out lightning bolts, and they go?
Will they say to you, ‘Here we are’?
38:36 Who has put wisdom in the heart,
or has imparted understanding to the mind?
38:37 Who by wisdom can count the clouds,
and who can tip over the water jars of heaven,
38:38 when the dust hardens into a mass,
and the clumps of earth stick together?
38:39 “Do you hunt prey for the lioness,
and satisfy the appetite of the lions,
38:40 when they crouch in their dens,
when they wait in ambush in the thicket?
38:41 Who prepares prey for the raven,
when its young cry out to God
and wander about for lack of food?
39:1 “Are you acquainted with the way
the mountain goats give birth?
Do you watch as the wild deer give birth to their young?
39:2 Do you count the months they must fulfill,
and do you know the time they give birth?
39:3 They crouch, they bear their young,
they bring forth the offspring they have carried.
39:4 Their young grow strong, and grow up in the open;
they go off, and do not return to them.
39:5 Who let the wild donkey go free?
Who released the bonds of the donkey,
39:6 to whom I appointed the steppe for its home,
the salt wastes as its dwelling place?
39:7 It scorns the tumult in the town;
it does not hear the shouts of a driver.
39:8 It ranges the hills as its pasture,
and searches after every green plant.
39:9 Is the wild ox willing to be your servant?
Will it spend the night at your feeding trough?
39:10 Can you bind the wild ox to a furrow with its rope,
will it till the valleys, following after you?
39:11 Will you rely on it because its strength is great?
Will you commit your labor to it?
39:12 Can you count on it to bring in your grain,
and gather the grain to your threshing floor?
39:13 “The wings of the ostrich flap with joy,
but are they the pinions and plumage of a stork?
39:14 For she leaves her eggs on the ground,
and lets them be warmed on the soil.
39:15 She forgets that a foot might crush them,
or that a wild animal might trample them.
39:16 She is harsh with her young,
as if they were not hers;
she is unconcerned
about the uselessness of her labor.
39:17 For God deprived her of wisdom,
and did not impart understanding to her.
39:18 But as soon as she springs up,
she laughs at the horse and its rider.
39:19 “Do you give the horse its strength?
Do you clothe its neck with a mane?
39:20 Do you make it leap like a locust?
Its proud neighing is terrifying!
39:21 It paws the ground in the valley,
exulting mightily,
it goes out to meet the weapons.
39:22 It laughs at fear and is not dismayed;
it does not shy away from the sword.
39:23 On it the quiver rattles;
the lance and javelin flash.
39:24 In excitement and impatience it consumes the ground;
it cannot stand still when the trumpet is blown.
39:25 At the sound of the trumpet, it says, ‘Aha!’
And from a distance it catches the scent of battle,
the thunderous shouting of commanders,
and the battle cries.
39:26 “Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars,
and spreads its wings toward the south?
39:27 Is it at your command that the eagle soars,
and builds its nest on high?
39:28 It lives on a rock and spends the night there,
on a rocky crag and a fortress.
39:29 From there it spots its prey,
its eyes gaze intently from a distance.
39:30 And its young ones devour the blood,
and where the dead carcasses are,
there it is.”
40:1 Then the Lord answered Job:
40:2 “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?
Let the person who accuses God give him an answer!”
40:3 Then Job answered the Lord:
40:4 “Indeed, I am completely unworthy – how could I reply to you?
I put my hand over my mouth to silence myself.
40:5 I have spoken once, but I cannot answer;
twice, but I will say no more.”
40:6 Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:
40:7 “Get ready for a difficult task like a man.
I will question you and you will inform me!
40:8 Would you indeed annul my justice?
Would you declare me guilty so that you might be right?
40:9 Do you have an arm as powerful as God’s,
and can you thunder with a voice like his?
40:10 Adorn yourself, then, with majesty and excellency,
and clothe yourself with glory and honor!
40:11 Scatter abroad the abundance of your anger.
Look at every proud man and bring him low;
40:12 Look at every proud man and abase him;
crush the wicked on the spot!
40:13 Hide them in the dust together,
imprison them in the grave.
40:14 Then I myself will acknowledge to you
that your own right hand can save you.
40:15 “Look now at Behemoth, which I made as I made you;
it eats grass like the ox.
40:16 Look at its strength in its loins,
and its power in the muscles of its belly.
40:17 It makes its tail stiff like a cedar,
the sinews of its thighs are tightly wound.
40:18 Its bones are tubes of bronze,
its limbs like bars of iron.
40:19 It ranks first among the works of God,
the One who made it
has furnished it with a sword.
40:20 For the hills bring it food,
where all the wild animals play.
40:21 Under the lotus trees it lies,
in the secrecy of the reeds and the marsh.
40:22 The lotus trees conceal it in their shadow;
the poplars by the stream conceal it.
40:23 If the river rages, it is not disturbed,
it is secure, though the Jordan
should surge up to its mouth.
40:24 Can anyone catch it by its eyes,
or pierce its nose with a snare?
41:1 (40:25) “Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook,
and tie down its tongue with a rope?
41:2 Can you put a cord through its nose,
or pierce its jaw with a hook?
41:3 Will it make numerous supplications to you,
will it speak to you with tender words?
41:4 Will it make a pact with you,
so you could take it as your slave for life?
41:5 Can you play with it, like a bird,
or tie it on a leash for your girls?
41:6 Will partners bargain for it?
Will they divide it up among the merchants?
41:7 Can you fill its hide with harpoons
or its head with fishing spears?
41:8 If you lay your hand on it,
you will remember the fight,
and you will never do it again!
41:9 (41:1) See, his expectation is wrong,
he is laid low even at the sight of it.
41:10 Is it not fierce when it is awakened?
Who is he, then, who can stand before it?
41:11 (Who has confronted me that I should repay?
Everything under heaven belongs to me!)
41:12 I will not keep silent about its limbs,
and the extent of its might,
and the grace of its arrangement.
41:13 Who can uncover its outer covering?
Who can penetrate to the inside of its armor?
41:14 Who can open the doors of its mouth?
Its teeth all around are fearsome.
41:15 Its back has rows of shields,
shut up closely together as with a seal;
41:16 each one is so close to the next
that no air can come between them.
41:17 They lock tightly together, one to the next;
they cling together and cannot be separated.
41:18 Its snorting throws out flashes of light;
its eyes are like the red glow of dawn.
41:19 Out of its mouth go flames,
sparks of fire shoot forth!
41:20 Smoke streams from its nostrils
as from a boiling pot over burning rushes.
41:21 Its breath sets coals ablaze
and a flame shoots from its mouth.
41:22 Strength lodges in its neck,
and despair runs before it.
41:23 The folds of its flesh are tightly joined;
they are firm on it, immovable.
41:24 Its heart is hard as rock,
hard as a lower millstone.
41:25 When it rises up, the mighty are terrified,
at its thrashing about they withdraw.
41:26 Whoever strikes it with a sword
will have no effect,
nor with the spear, arrow, or dart.
41:27 It regards iron as straw
and bronze as rotten wood.
41:28 Arrows do not make it flee;
slingstones become like chaff to it.
41:29 A club is counted as a piece of straw;
it laughs at the rattling of the lance.
41:30 Its underparts are the sharp points of potsherds,
it leaves its mark in the mud
like a threshing sledge.
41:31 It makes the deep boil like a cauldron
and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment,
41:32 It leaves a glistening wake behind it;
one would think the deep had a head of white hair.
41:33 The likes of it is not on earth,
a creature without fear.
41:34 It looks on every haughty being;
it is king over all that are proud.”