Job - Chapter 40

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¹ Still speaking to Job, Yahweh said:

² Is Yahweh's opponent going to give way? Has God's critic thought up an answer?

³ Job replied to Yahweh:

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⁴ My words have been frivolous: what can I reply? I had better lay my hand over my mouth.

⁵ I have spoken once, I shall not speak again; I have spoken twice, I have nothing more to say.

⁶ Yahweh gave Job his answer from the heart of the tempest. He said:

⁷ Brace yourself like a fighter, I am going to ask the questions, and you are to inform me!

⁸ Do you really want to reverse my judgement, put me in the wrong and yourself in the right?

⁹ Has your arm the strength of God's, can your voice thunder as loud?

¹⁰ Come on, display your majesty and grandeur, robe yourself in splendour and glory.

¹¹ Let the fury of your anger burst forth, humble the haughty at a glance!

¹² At a glance, bring down all the proud, strike down the wicked where they stand.

¹³ Bury the lot of them in the ground, shut them, every one, in the Dungeon.

¹⁴ And I shall be the first to pay you homage, since your own right hand is strong enough to save you.

¹⁵ But look at Behemoth, my creature, just as you are! He feeds on greenstuff like the ox,

¹⁶ but what strength he has in his loins, what power in his stomach muscles!

¹⁷ His tail is as stiff as a cedar, the sinews of his thighs are tightly knit.

¹⁸ His bones are bronze tubes, his frame like forged iron.

¹⁹ He is the first of the works of God. His Maker threatened him with the sword,

²⁰ forbidding him the mountain regions and all the wild animals that play there.

²¹ Under the lotus he lies, he hides among the reeds in the swamps.

²² The leaves of the lotus give him shade, the willows by the stream shelter him.

²³ If the river overflows, he does not worry: Jordan might come up to his mouth, but he would not care.

²⁴ Who is going to catch him by the eyes or put poles through his nose?

²⁵ Leviathan, too! Can you catch him with a fish-hook or hold his tongue down with a rope?

²⁶ Can you put a cane through his nostrils or pierce his jaw with a hook?

²⁷ Will he plead lengthily with you, addressing you in diffident tones?

²⁸ Will he strike a bargain with you to become your slave for life?

²⁹ Will you make a pet of him, like a bird, keep him on a lead to amuse your little girls?

³⁰ Is he to be sold by the fishing guild and then retailed by merchants?

³¹ Riddle his hide with darts? Or his head with fishing spears?

³² You have only to lay a finger on him never to forget the struggle or risk it again!