⁶Then 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

¹Then 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.”