Chronological Plan

¹The LORD answered Job:

²Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who argues with God give an answer.

³Then Job answered the LORD:

⁴I am so insignificant. How can I answer you? I place my hand over my mouth.

⁵I have spoken once, and I will not reply; twice, but now I can add nothing.

⁶Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind:

⁷Get ready to answer me like a man; When I question you, you will inform me.

⁸Would you really challenge my justice? Would you declare me guilty to justify yourself?

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

¹⁰Adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and clothe yourself with honor and glory.

¹¹Pour out your raging anger; look on every proud person and humiliate him.

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

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

¹⁴Then I will confess to you that your own right hand can deliver you.

¹⁵Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you. He eats grass like cattle.

¹⁶Look at the strength of his back and the power in the muscles of his belly.

¹⁷He stiffens his tail like a cedar tree; the tendons of his thighs are woven firmly together.

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

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

²⁰The hills yield food for him, while all sorts of wild animals play there.

²¹He lies under the lotus plants, hiding in the protection of marshy reeds.

²²Lotus plants cover him with their shade; the willows by the brook surround him.

²³Though the river rages, Behemoth is unafraid; he remains confident, even if the Jordan surges up to his mouth.

²⁴Can anyone capture him while he looks on, or pierce his nose with snares?

¹Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie his tongue down with a rope?

²Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?

³Will he beg you for mercy or speak softly to you?

⁴Will he make a covenant with you so that you can take him as a slave forever?

⁵Can you play with him like a bird or put him on a leash for your girls?

⁶Will traders bargain for him or divide him among the merchants?

⁷Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?

⁸Lay a hand on him. You will remember the battle and never repeat it!

⁹Any hope of capturing him proves false. Does a person not collapse at the very sight of him?

¹⁰No one is ferocious enough to rouse Leviathan; who then can stand against me?

¹¹Who confronted me, that I should repay him? Everything under heaven belongs to me.

¹²I cannot be silent about his limbs, his power, and his graceful proportions.

¹³Who can strip off his outer covering? Who can penetrate his double layer of armor?

¹⁴Who can open his jaws, surrounded by those terrifying teeth?

¹⁵His pride is in his rows of scales, closely sealed together.

¹⁶One scale is so close to another that no air can pass between them.

¹⁷They are joined to one another, so closely connected they cannot be separated.

¹⁸His snorting flashes with light, while his eyes are like the rays of dawn.

¹⁹Flaming torches shoot from his mouth; fiery sparks fly out!

²⁰Smoke billows from his nostrils as from a boiling pot or burning reeds.

²¹His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour out of his mouth.

²²Strength resides in his neck, and dismay dances before him.

²³The folds of his flesh are joined together, solid as metal and immovable.

²⁴His heart is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone!

²⁵When Leviathan rises, the mighty are terrified; they withdraw because of his thrashing.

²⁶The sword that reaches him will have no effect, nor will a spear, dart, or arrow.

²⁷He regards iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood.

²⁸No arrow can make him flee; slingstones become like stubble to him.

²⁹A club is regarded as stubble, and he laughs at the sound of a javelin.

³⁰His undersides are jagged potsherds, spreading the mud like a threshing sledge.

³¹He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron; he makes the sea like an ointment jar.

³²He leaves a shining wake behind him; one would think the deep had gray hair!

³³He has no equal on earth — a creature devoid of fear!

³⁴He surveys everything that is haughty; he is king over all the proud beasts.

¹Then Job replied to the LORD:

²I know that you can do anything and no plan of yours can be thwarted.

³You asked, “Who is this who conceals my counsel with ignorance?” Surely I spoke about things I did not understand, things too wondrous for me to know.

⁴You said, “Listen now, and I will speak. When I question you, you will inform me.”

⁵I had heard reports about you, but now my eyes have seen you.

⁶Therefore, I reject my words and am sorry for them; I am dust and ashes.

⁷After the LORD had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.

⁸Now take seven bulls and seven rams, go to my servant Job, and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. Then my servant Job will pray for you. I will surely accept his prayer and not deal with you as your folly deserves. For you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.”

⁹Then 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.

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

¹¹All his brothers, sisters, and former acquaintances came to him and dined with him in his house. They sympathized with him and comforted him concerning all the adversity the LORD had brought on him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold earring.

¹²So the LORD blessed the last part of Job’s life more than the first. He owned fourteen thousand sheep and goats, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys.

¹³He 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 with their brothers.

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

¹⁷Then Job died, old and full of days.