Job Humbles Himself before the LORD

¹And the LORD said to Job:

²“Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty?Let him who argues with God give an answer.”

³Then Job answered the LORD:

⁴“Behold, I am insignificant. How can I reply to You?I place my hand over my mouth.

⁵I have spoken once, but I have no answer—twice, but I have nothing to add.”

The LORD Challenges Job Again

⁶Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

⁷“Now brace yourselflike a man;I will question you, and you shall inform Me.

⁸Would you really annul My justice?Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?

⁹Do you have an arm like God’s?Can you thunder with a voice like His?

¹⁰Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor,and clothe yourself with honor and glory.

¹¹Unleash the fury of your wrath;look on every proud man and bring him low.

¹²Look on every proud man and humble him;trample the wicked where they stand.

¹³Bury them together in the dust;imprison them in the grave.

¹⁴Then I will confess to youthat your own right hand can save you.

¹⁵Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you.He feeds on grass like an ox.

¹⁶See the strength of his loinsand the power in the muscles of his belly.

¹⁷His tail sways like a cedar;the sinews of his thighs are tightly knit.

¹⁸His bones are tubes of bronze;his limbs are rods of iron.

¹⁹He is the foremost of God’s works;only his Maker can draw the sword against him.

²⁰The hills yield him their produce,while all the beasts of the field play nearby.

²¹He lies under the lotus plants,hidden among the reeds of the marsh.

²²The lotus plants conceal him in their shade;the willowsof the brook surround him.

²³Though the river rages, Behemoth is unafraid;he remains secure, though the Jordan surges to his mouth.

²⁴Can anyone capture him as he looks on,or pierce his nose with a snare?

The LORD Challenges Job

¹Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

²“Who is this who obscures My counselby words without knowledge?

³Now brace yourselflike a man;I will question you, and you shall inform Me.

⁴Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?Tell Me, if you have understanding.

⁵Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know!Or who stretched a measuring line across it?

⁶On what were its foundations set,or who laid its cornerstone,

⁷while the morning stars sang togetherand all the sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸Who enclosed the sea behind doorswhen it burst forth from the womb,

⁹when I made the clouds its garmentand thick darkness its blanket,

¹⁰when I fixed its boundariesand set in place its bars and doors,

¹¹and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther;here your proud waves must stop’?

¹²In your days, have you commanded the morningor assigned the dawn its place,

¹³that it might spread to the ends of the earthand shake the wicked out of it?

¹⁴The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.

¹⁵Light is withheld from the wicked,and their upraised arm is broken.

¹⁶Have you journeyed to the vents of the seaor walked in the trenches of the deep?

¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed to you?Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

¹⁸Have you surveyed the extent of the earth?Tell Me, if you know all this.

¹⁹Where is the way to the home of light?Do you know where darkness resides,

²⁰so you can lead it back to its border?Do you know the paths to its home?

²¹Surely you know, for you were already born!And the number of your days is great!

²²Have you entered the storehouses of snowor observed the storehouses of hail,

²³which I hold in reserve for times of trouble,for the day of war and battle?

²⁴In which direction is the lightning dispersed,or the east wind scattered over the earth?

²⁵Who cuts a channel for the floodor clears a path for the thunderbolt,

²⁶to bring rain on a barren land,on a desert where no man lives,

²⁷to satisfy the parched wastelandand make it sprout with tender grass?

²⁸Does the rain have a father?Who has begotten the drops of dew?

²⁹From whose womb does the ice emerge?Who gives birth to the frost from heaven,

³⁰when the waters become hard as stoneand the surface of the deep is frozen?

³¹Can you bind the chains of the Pleiadesor loosen the belt of Orion?

³²Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasonsor lead out the Bearand her cubs?

³³Do you know the laws of the heavens?Can you set their dominion over the earth?

³⁴Can you command the cloudsso that a flood of water covers you?

³⁵Can you send the lightning bolts on their way?Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?

³⁶Who has put wisdom in the heartor given understanding to the mind?

³⁷Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens

³⁸when the dust hardens into a massand the clods of earth stick together?

³⁹Can you hunt the prey for a lionessor satisfy the hunger of young lions

⁴⁰when they crouch in their densand lie in wait in the thicket?

⁴¹Who provides food for the ravenwhen its young cry out to Godas they wander about for lack of food?

Job Submits Himself to the LORD

¹Then Job replied to the LORD:

²“I know that You can do all thingsand that no plan of Yours can be thwarted.

³You asked, ‘Who is thiswho conceals My counsel without knowledge?’Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,things too wonderful for me to know.

⁴You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak.I will question you, and you shall inform Me.’

⁵My ears had heard of You,but now my eyes have seen You.

⁶Therefore I despise myself,and I repent in dust and ashes.”

The LORD Rebukes Job’s Friends

⁷After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.

⁸So now, take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken accurately about Me, as My servant Job has.”

⁹So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD had told them; and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.

The LORD Blesses Job

¹⁰After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his prosperity and doubled his former possessions.

¹¹All his brothers and sisters and prior acquaintances came and dined with him in his house. They consoled him and comforted him over all the adversity that the LORD had brought upon him. And each one gave him a piece of silverand a gold ring.

¹²So the LORD blessed Job’s latter days more than his first. He owned 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.

¹³And he also had seven sons and three daughters.

¹⁴He named his first daughter Jemimah, his second Keziah, and his third Keren-happuch.

¹⁵No women as beautiful as Job’s daughters could be found in all the land, and their father granted them an inheritance among their brothers.

¹⁶After this, Job lived 140 years and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.

¹⁷And so Job died, old and full of years.

How Many Are Your Works, O LORD!

¹Bless the LORD, O my soul!O LORD my God, You are very great;You are clothed with splendor and majesty.

²He wraps Himself in light as with a garment;He stretches out the heavens like a tent,

³laying the beams of His chambersin the waters above,making the clouds His chariot,walking on the wings of the wind.

⁴He makes the winds His messengers,flames of fire His servants.

⁵He set the earth on its foundations,never to be moved.

⁶You covered it with the deep like a garment;the waters stood above the mountains.

⁷At Your rebuke the waters fled;at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away—

⁸the mountains rose and the valleys sankto the place You assigned for them—

⁹You set a boundary they cannot cross,that they may never again cover the earth.

¹⁰He sends forth springs in the valleys;they flow between the mountains.

¹¹They give drink to every beast of the field;the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

¹²The birds of the air nest beside the springs;they sing among the branches.

¹³He waters the mountains from His chambers;the earth is satisfied by the fruit of His works.

¹⁴He makes the grass grow for the livestockand provides crops for man to cultivate,bringing forth food from the earth:

¹⁵wine that gladdens the heart of man,oil that makes his face to shine,and bread that sustains his heart.

¹⁶The trees of the LORD have their fill,the cedars of Lebanon that He planted,

¹⁷where the birds build their nests;the stork makes her home in the cypresses.

¹⁸The high mountains are for the wild goats,the cliffs a refuge for the rock badgers.

¹⁹He made the moon to mark the seasons;the sun knows when to set.

²⁰You bring darkness, and it becomes night,when all the beasts of the forest prowl.

²¹The young lions roar for their preyand seek their food from God.

²²The sun rises, and they withdraw;they lie down in their dens.

²³Man goes forth to his workand to his labor until evening.

²⁴How many are Your works, O LORD!In wisdom You have made them all;the earth is full of Your creatures.

²⁵Here is the sea, vast and wide,teeming with creatures beyond number,living things both great and small.

²⁶There the ships pass,and Leviathan, which You formed to frolic there.

²⁷All creatures look to Youto give them their food in due season.

²⁸When You give it to them,they gather it up;when You open Your hand,they are satisfied with good things.

²⁹When You hide Your face,they are terrified;when You take away their breath,they die and return to dust.

³⁰When You send Your Spirit,they are created,and You renewthe face of the earth.

³¹May the glory of the LORD endure forever;may the LORD rejoice in His works.

³²He looks on the earth,and it trembles;He touches the mountains,and they smolder.

³³I will sing to the LORD all my life;I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.

³⁴May my meditation be pleasing to Him,for I rejoice in the LORD.

³⁵May sinners vanish from the earthand the wicked be no more.Bless the LORD, O my soul.Hallelujah!