The Lord Challenges Job

Job 40

6 Then the Lord c answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

7 d "Dress for action 1 like a man;
e I will question you, and you make it known to me.
8 Will you even put me in the wrong?
Will you condemn me that f you may be in the right?
9 Have you g an arm like God,
and can you thunder with h a voice like his?

10 "Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity;
i clothe yourself with glory and splendor.
11 Pour out the overflowings of your anger,
and look on everyone who is j proud and abase him.
12 Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low
and k tread down the wicked l where they stand.
13 m Hide them all in n the dust together;
bind their faces in the world below. 2
14 Then will I also acknowledge to you
that your own o right hand can save you.

15 "Behold, Behemoth, 3
which I made as I made you;
he eats p grass like an ox.
16 Behold, his strength in his loins,
and his power in the muscles of his belly.
17 He makes his tail stiff like a cedar;
the sinews of his thighs are knit together.
18 His bones are tubes of bronze,
his limbs like bars of iron.

19 "He is q the first of r the works 4 of God;
let him who made him bring near his sword!
20 For the mountains yield food for him
where all the wild beasts play.
21 Under the lotus plants he lies,
in the shelter of s the reeds and in the marsh.
22 For his shade the lotus trees cover him;
the willows of the brook surround him.
23 Behold, if the river is turbulent he is not frightened;
he is confident though Jordan rushes against his mouth.
24 Can one take him by his eyes, 5
or pierce his nose with a snare?

Job 41

1 6 "Can you draw out u Leviathan 7 with a fishhook
or press down his tongue with a cord?
2 Can you put v a rope in his nose
or pierce his jaw with v a hook?
3 Will he make many pleas to you?
Will he speak to you soft words?
4 Will he make a covenant with you
to take him for w your servant forever?
5 Will you play with him as with a bird,
or will you put him on a leash for your girls?
6 Will traders bargain over him?
Will they divide him up among the merchants?
7 Can you fill his skin with harpoons
or his head with fishing spears?
8 Lay your hands on him;
remember the battle - you will not do it again!
9 8 Behold, the hope of a man is false;
he is laid low even at the sight of him.
10 No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up.
Who then is he who can stand before me?
11 x Who has first given to me, that I should repay him?
y Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.

12 "I will not keep silence concerning his limbs,
or his mighty strength, or his goodly frame.
13 Who can strip off his outer garment?
Who would come near him with a bridle?
14 Who can open the doors of his face?
Around his teeth is terror.
15 His back is made of 9 rows of shields,
shut up closely as with a seal.
16 One is so near to another
that no air can come between them.
17 They are z joined one to another;
they clasp each other and cannot be separated.
18 His sneezings flash forth light,
and his eyes are like a the eyelids of the dawn.
19 Out of his mouth go flaming torches;
sparks of fire leap forth.
20 Out of his nostrils comes forth smoke,
as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
21 His breath b kindles coals,
and a flame comes forth from his mouth.
22 In his neck abides strength,
and terror dances before him.
23 The folds of his flesh c stick together,
firmly cast on him and immovable.
24 His heart is hard as a stone,
hard as the lower millstone.
25 When he raises himself up the mighty 10 are afraid;
at the crashing they are beside themselves.
26 Though the sword reaches him, it does not avail,
nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin.
27 He counts iron as straw,
and bronze as rotten wood.
28 The arrow cannot make him flee;
for him sling stones are turned to stubble.
29 Clubs are counted as stubble;
he laughs at the rattle of javelins.
30 His underparts are like sharp d potsherds;
he spreads himself like e a threshing sledge on the mire.
31 He makes the deep boil like a pot;
he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
32 Behind him he leaves a shining wake;
one would think the deep to be white-haired.
33 f On earth there is not his like,
a creature without fear.
34 He sees everything that is high;
he is king over all the g sons of pride."

  1. Cross References
    Job 38:1
    Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
  2. Cross References
    Job 38:3
    Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.
  3. Cross References
    Job 38:3
    Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.
    Job 42:4
    'Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.'
  4. Cross References
    Job 32:2
    Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God.
  5. Cross References
    Psalms 89:13
    You have a mighty arm; strong is your hand, high your right hand.
    Isaiah 63:12
    Who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name.
  6. Cross References
    Job 37:4
    After it his voice roars; he thunders with his majestic voice, and he does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard.
  7. Cross References
    Psalms 93:1
    The Lord reigns; he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed; he has put on strength as his belt. Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.
    Psalms 104:1
    Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty.
  8. Cross References
    Daniel 4:37
    Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.
    Isaiah 2:11 - 17
    The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
  9. Cross References
    Isaiah 63:3
    I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel.
  10. Cross References
    Job 36:20
    Do not long for the night, when peoples vanish in their place.
  11. Cross References
    Isaiah 2:10
    Enter into the rock and hide in the dust from before the terror of the Lord, and from the splendor of his majesty.
  12. Cross References
    Job 21:26
    They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them.
  13. Cross References
    Psalms 98:1
    Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.
    Isaiah 59:16
    He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him.
    Isaiah 63:5
    I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold; so my own arm brought me salvation, and my wrath upheld me.
  14. Cross References
    Numbers 22:4
    And Moab said to the elders of Midian, "This horde will now lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field." So Balak the son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time.
  15. Cross References
    Proverbs 8:22
    The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old.
  16. Cross References
    Job 26:14
    Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?
  17. Cross References
    Psalms 68:30
    Rebuke the beasts that dwell among the reeds, the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples. Trample underfoot those who lust after tribute; scatter the peoples who delight in war.
  18. Cross References
    Job 3:8
    Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.
    Psalms 74:14
    You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
    Psalms 104:26
    There go the ships, and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.
    Isaiah 27:1
    In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.
  19. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:28
    Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come into my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.
    Isaiah 37:29
    Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come to my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.
  20. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:28
    Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come into my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.
    Isaiah 37:29
    Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come to my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.
  21. Cross References
    Exodus 21:6
    Then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.
    Deuteronomy 15:17
    Then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. And to your female slave you shall do the same.
  22. Cross References
    Romans 11:35
    "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?"
    Job 35:7
    If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand?
  23. Cross References
    Psalms 24:1
    The earth is the Lord 's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.
  24. Cross References
    Job 41:23
    The folds of his flesh stick together, firmly cast on him and immovable.
  25. Cross References
    Job 3:9
    Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning.
  26. Cross References
    2 Samuel 22:13
    Out of the brightness before him coals of fire flamed forth.
    Psalms 18:8
    Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him.
  27. Cross References
    Job 41:17
    They are joined one to another; they clasp each other and cannot be separated.
  28. Cross References
    Job 2:8
    And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.
  29. Cross References
    Isaiah 28:27
    Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin, but dill is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.
    Isaiah 41:15
    Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge, new, sharp, and having teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and crush them, and you shall make the hills like chaff.
  30. Cross References
    Job 19:25
    For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
  31. Cross References
    Job 28:8
    The proud beasts have not trodden it; the lion has not passed over it.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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