Day 15 - Job 40-42

Job 40

 1 The LORD said to Job:
 2 "Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?
       Let him who accuses God answer him!"
 3 Then Job answered the LORD :
 4 "I am unworthy—how can I reply to you?
       I put my hand over my mouth.
 5 I spoke once, but I have no answer—
       twice, but I will say no more."
 6 Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm:
 7 "Brace yourself like a man;
       I will question you,
       and you shall answer me.
 8 "Would you discredit my justice?
       Would you condemn me to justify yourself?
 9 Do you have an arm like God's,
       and can your voice thunder like his?
 10 Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor,
       and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.
 11 Unleash the fury of your wrath,
       look at every proud man and bring him low,
 12 look at every proud man and humble him,
       crush the wicked where they stand.
 13 Bury them all in the dust together;
       shroud their faces in the grave.
 14 Then I myself will admit to you
       that your own right hand can save you.
 15 "Look at the behemoth, ^[a]
       which I made along with you
       and which feeds on grass like an ox.
 16 What strength he has in his loins,
       what power in the muscles of his belly!
 17 His tail ^[b] sways like a cedar;
       the sinews of his thighs are close-knit.
 18 His bones are tubes of bronze,
       his limbs like rods of iron.
 19 He ranks first among the works of God,
       yet his Maker can approach him with his sword.
 20 The hills bring him their produce,
       and all the wild animals play nearby.
 21 Under the lotus plants he lies,
       hidden among the reeds in the marsh.
 22 The lotuses conceal him in their shadow;
       the poplars by the stream surround him.
 23 When the river rages, he is not alarmed;
       he is secure, though the Jordan should surge against his mouth.
 24 Can anyone capture him by the eyes, ^[c]
       or trap him and pierce his nose?

Job 41

 1 "Can you pull in the leviathan ^[d] with a fishhook
       or tie down his tongue with a rope?
 2 Can you put a cord through his nose
       or pierce his jaw with a hook?
 3 Will he keep begging you for mercy?
       Will he speak to you with gentle words?
 4 Will he make an agreement with you
       for you to take him as your slave for life?
 5 Can you make a pet of him like a bird
       or put him on a leash for your girls?
 6 Will traders barter for him?
       Will they divide him up among the merchants?
 7 Can you fill his hide with harpoons
       or his head with fishing spears?
 8 If you lay a hand on him,
       you will remember the struggle and never do it again!
 9 Any hope of subduing him is false;
       the mere sight of him is overpowering.
 10 No one is fierce enough to rouse him.
       Who then is able to stand against me?
 11 Who has a claim against me that I must pay?
       Everything under heaven belongs to me.
 12 "I will not fail to speak of his limbs,
       his strength and his graceful form.
 13 Who can strip off his outer coat?
       Who would approach him with a bridle?
 14 Who dares open the doors of his mouth,
       ringed about with his fearsome teeth?
 15 His back has ^[e] rows of shields
       tightly sealed together;
 16 each is so close to the next
       that no air can pass between.
 17 They are joined fast to one another;
       they cling together and cannot be parted.
 18 His snorting throws out flashes of light;
       his eyes are like the rays of dawn.
 19 Firebrands stream from his mouth;
       sparks of fire shoot out.
 20 Smoke pours from his nostrils
       as from a boiling pot over a fire of reeds.
 21 His breath sets coals ablaze,
       and flames dart from his mouth.
 22 Strength resides in his neck;
       dismay goes before him.
 23 The folds of his flesh are tightly joined;
       they are firm and immovable.
 24 His chest is hard as rock,
       hard as a lower millstone.
 25 When he rises up, the mighty are terrified;
       they retreat before his thrashing.
 26 The sword that reaches him has no effect,
       nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.
 27 Iron he treats like straw
       and bronze like rotten wood.
 28 Arrows do not make him flee;
       slingstones are like chaff to him.
 29 A club seems to him but a piece of straw;
       he laughs at the rattling of the lance.
 30 His undersides are jagged potsherds,
       leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.
 31 He makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron
       and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.
 32 Behind him he leaves a glistening wake;
       one would think the deep had white hair.
 33 Nothing on earth is his equal—
       a creature without fear.
 34 He looks down on all that are haughty;
       he is king over all that are proud."

Job 42

Job

 1 Then Job replied to the LORD :  2 "I know that you can do all things;
       no plan of yours can be thwarted.
 3 You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?'
       Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
       things too wonderful for me to know.
 4 "You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak;
       I will question you,
       and you shall answer me.'
 5 My ears had heard of you
       but now my eyes have seen you.
 6 Therefore I despise myself
       and repent in dust and ashes."

Epilogue

 7 After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. 8 So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has." 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the LORD told them; and the LORD accepted Job's prayer.  10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before. 11 All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought upon him, and each one gave him a piece of silver ^[f] and a gold ring.
 12 The LORD blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. 13 And he also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. 15 Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job's daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.
 16 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. 17 And so he died, old and full of years.
Footnotes:

1. Job 40:15 Possibly the hippopotamus or the elephant
2. Job 40:17 Possibly trunk
3. Job 40:24 Or by a water hole
4. Job 41:1 Possibly the crocodile
5. Job 41:15 Or His pride is his
6. Job 42:11 Hebrew him a kesitah ; a kesitah was a unit of money of unknown weight and value.